Unlisted Help
by Roosie
Summary: After finding out something that will change Lily's life forever, she slowly starts to drift away from her friends Oliver and Miley. Unable to tell them just yet.
1. The Beginning

**Lily's POV:**

I listened to the phone ring as I called Miley's house, and waited for her dad or brother to answer, "Lily landing in 5." I yelled into the phone, and continued to skateboard down the sidewalk from my house. But just before I could crash land into Miley's already open French doors, I fell down onto the concrete of her driveway.

"Are you okay?" I heard Miley's voice coming towards me. "Lily, that was a huge crash," Miley said as she held my elbow and exposed knee for me to see. There was a large gash in both, that was practically pouring out blood. I gasped at the cut, and limped my way into the house with Miley holding me up – but all I could think about was how I lost my balance at a sport that I've been doing since I was old enough to walk.

Miley sat me down on the couch when we got in, shooing Jackson off the couch and sending him to get the first aid kit. "I'm fine Miley," I said as she rested my head on a pillow and applied cream and gauze to my cuts. "Really, I am."

"Obviously you're not," Miley rolled her eyes as she sat down next to me when she was done fixing me. "That must have hurt! What happened?"

"I just lost my balance," I stammered. "I guess."

"Just don't let that happen again," Miley lowered her eyebrows, and gave me a can a soda to drink. "Or at least, do it when I'm around so that I can help."

I laughed, and tried to get up from the couch. "Hey," I let Miley sit next to me on the couch, instead of the floor she had been sitting on. "What does Hannah Montana have planned for us tonight?"

"Well," Miley seemed happy to change the subject, and started to drag me away from the couch to the closet located in her room. "We've got a concert tonight, so you best get dressed."

"How many hours do I have?" I asked, as Miley checked her watch.

"Half an hour," she smiled, and pushed me into the closet and shut the door so that I could get dressed. "Now Hurry up," she yelled through the doors.

With that, I purposely went slowly towards the clothes that were laid out for Lola, my alter ego. And I slowly picked out cute clothes to where, a purple frilly dress that, obviously, went over my jeans and favourite blue shirt with the white trim and finally, to top it all off – a wide leather belt and my trademark purple wig that I had to place over my long blonde hair. I sighed as I began to take off my shirt, to put on the new one, and to my surprise the part of my arms that weren't covered by my undershirt; we're practically covered by big bruises. Without delay, I took this off my mind, thinking it was part of the crash I'd done with my skateboard earlier on, and I got dressed.

"Wow Lily," Miley smiled as I came out of the large closet.

"You like?" I turned around in a circle really fast, making myself dizzy as I did so. As I stopped turning, I held my head, and sat down on the bed with Miley when a sudden burst of drowsiness hit me. I sighed, "Maybe I should skip the concert tonight."

"No," Miley held onto my arm. "I need you there with me, you're my good luck charm!" Miley threw a puppy dog face and got me to turn to her. "Please?"

I sighed again and lay down onto the bed and tried to close my eyes. "Alright I'll go," I agreed, although I knew I was getting really tired – tired enough that my vision was constantly changing, and a ringing could be heard in my ears.


	2. Missing

**Miley's PO**V:

"Miley," my dad sat on the couch, looking through a completely stuffed planner – all to do with Hannah Montana. But, meanwhile, I was worrying about Lily, who I hadn't seen since my last Hannah Montana concert, two weeks ago. "We have an interview in three hours – you should get ready." My dad waved his hand in front of my face.

"Sorry dad," I smiled, and nodded at the plans he was pointing at. "I was just thinking."

"Lily again?" He guessed, sitting down on the couch next to me, and hugging me with one arm around my shoulder. "She hasn't been around for a while has she?"

I nodded, and looked up at him. "I was hoping she was on vacation or something," I sighed. "But even Oliver doesn't know where she is." After that I let silence take over the room, and sat with my dad on the couch until Jackson came in from the beach.

"Wash you feet before you walk around," dad yelled to him, not even giving the chance for Jackson to make the house a mess. "Your brother," he sighed to me.

"There is definitely something wrong with him,' I agreed, dropping the morbid subject we'd been on before. Dad laughed, and I got up from the couch and went to the large closet I'd led Lily to two weeks ago. I sighed, not wanting to do another interview or concert without my best friend Lily by my side – it was difficult without her, even getting dressed for the event was depressing me.

"I need Lily," I sighed as I threw down my jeans and glittery shirt onto the floor and jumped onto my bed to use the phone on my bedside table.

"Hi, you've reached Lily, Lilster, or Lillian as my parents call me when they're mad," Lily's voice came through the phone and I refused to let myself hang up. "You know what to do."

I cleared my voice as the beep began, "hey Lily," I croaked, holding back tears as I thought about my best friend not being with me, so maybe I was being dramatic, but we did everything together before she disappeared off the end of the earth. "It's Miley, um, how have you been doing? I haven't heard from you in a while – and I was just wondering what happened, even Oliver's worried. So anyway, call back when you can, you know that number." And then I hung up, when I heard my dad calling me from the living room again.

"Coming dad!" I yelled and picked up the clothes from the floor again, getting dressed in them and running downstairs as I wiped away tears.


	3. A Mother's Intuition

**Lily's POV:**

I did feel bad, leaving Miley and Oliver alone for two weeks. And I had wanted to go to school, and to soccer practice, and Hannah Montana's concerts, parties and interviews – but my mom was starting to get overprotective again. It all started, two weeks ago, when I fell down at Miley's house and got those ugly cuts that still remain open to this day.

I sat in bed all day, feeling tired and dizzy. Hoping that it was because of the slumber party I'd had with Miley two days ago when we stayed up until four in the morning. My mom told me to sleep, not intentionally telling me to sleep all day, but that's what I did. And for the first day, my mom put it off as nothing. Until it came to the day when I was going to be spending my third day in bed, then my mom became worried. She cleaned my cuts, thinking that this had to do with an infection. But they didn't heal, and I started to throw up in the mornings, mostly because of a pounding headache that I had every night before I went to bed.

"Honey," mom stroked my damp blonde hair, after I'd been throwing the contents of my stomach up almost all morning. "I think we should take you to a doctor."

I shook my head rapidly, not realizing that I was, and my vision was getting blurry as I began to speak to my mom, "you know how I feel about those people. Those sticks and cold equipment."

"Would you rather the emergency room?" Mom asked, trying to persuade me. "We could get you there overnight and see how much better you would do on an IV."

I shook my head again, only able to see the outline of my mom, and a couple words through the ringing in my ears. I was starting to get grumpy for no reason, "I pick the stupid doctor." I pouted, and got up with my mom, only to barely make it to the car outside.

It was a quiet ten minute drive, but it seemed like an eternity for me as I was starting to get dizzy again. But I sure wouldn't tell my mom this, she was driving fast enough as it was – and there was no need to worry her about nothing. This was probably just the flu.

"Lillian Truscott," A nurse called out into the waiting room where I had been sitting for the past twenty minutes. "Lillian Truscott," the nurse said again, and finally my mom stood up with me in tow and I was brought to the back. "Room 12A," the nurse pointed to a door, "your doctor will be with you in a minute."

My mom nodded and thanked the nurse, and then lifted my weak body onto the cold table in front of her. "It will be okay Lily," she whispered to me, but I was already half unconscious.

I mumbled in response, unable to say anything more.

**

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**

A/N _I'm going to be generous today. But only because I'm super busy with packing, and babysitting my little sisters and can't post until Friday when we get back (my daddy's on the Boom Boom Huck Jam tour and we're going to visit him.) So I'll write the story while I'm gone and post a couple chapters when I get back.

* * *

_


	4. Tests, Tests, Tests

Unfortunately for me, this was not what the doctor was going to allow me to do.

"Good Morning Lillian," A doctor sat me up on the bed, and received a death glare from me.

I continued to stay silent until he was sitting down in a chair next to my mom, "You can call me Lily," I said randomly, remembering how every nurse I met this morning called me Lillian.

"Alright Lily," the doctor wrote something on his clipboard, "I just need to ask you some questions and then I'll get a nurse in here and we'll take some blood, how does that sound to you?"

"Peachy," I replied sarcastically.

And although my doctor didn't respond to my sarcasm, my mom sure did. "Okay," the doctor said before mom could get any word in. "How have you been feeling for the past few days Lily?"

"Like I've been floating on a cloud," I gave him a fake smile, and mumbled to myself, _why else would I be here?_

"Alright," the doctor caught on this time and turned to my mom for the answers.

"Lily's been drowsy, nauseous, and sometimes she'll get these pounding headaches that won't go away," my mom started, and I knew she wasn't going to stop now. "I thought it was these cuts she got from skateboarding. I've told Lily again and again to wear knee pads, but she never listens. Show him the cuts Lily."

I moaned, but ended up lifting up the leg of my jeans to show him my left knee, and the sleeve of my shirt to show him my elbow. "It's really not as bad as it looks," I told the doctor, and all he did was nod and check the cuts out.

Then he went back to the counter and wrote something on another slip of paper, "I'll get some antibiotics for those Lily," he said to me, and handed the slip to my mom. "And they should heal in no time."

"Great," I said, and rolled down the sleeve of my shirt.

We were all silent for a while, waiting for the doctor to make the next move, "So Lily," he smiled at me and put a stool in front of the table I was sitting on for him to sit on. "We'll look for the flu, because that's most likely what it is," I nodded. "But on the slight chance that it isn't, then I'll have to run more tests on you tomorrow." I nodded again, and watched the doctor call a nurse in from the hallway.

The doctor then proceeded to take a needle out of the drawer and prepare it for me. I closed my eyes shut – not wanted to see the needle that was going to be stuck into me. Before I knew it, I was told to lie down and a sharp pain caused me to yell out. "Ouch," I cried towards my mom, "that hurts."

"Don't worry Lily," my mom soothed me, holding my hand and taking hair away from my forehead. "The doctors done now, you did really well."

"As long as I don't have to do it again," I screamed, and rolled over to my side so that I was no longer facing the doctor or my mom.

The doctor laughed, and I could hear him opening the door as my mom sat down again on her chair in the corner, "you're free to go now." He said to my mom. "I've just got to get this to the lab; we'll call you when we get the results." Then I heard the doctor shut the door and my mom took a few seconds before she got up and attempted to carry me to the car in the parking lot.

"Feeling any better?" My mom asked as she tucked me into my seatbelt. I had already started to fall asleep again, as another dizzy spell hit me. I shook my head with all the energy I had. "I promise, you'll get better soon." I rolled my eyes and feel completely asleep, waking up later in my own bed. My mom sitting right next to me in a chair.


	5. Complications

"Hello sleepy head," she smiled. "Miley called; do you feel like calling her back?" I shook my head, "okay, well the doctor wants us to come back tomorrow morning."

I groaned, "More tests?"

"No," mom shook her head, and brushed hair that had been falling into my face away, "to get the results." I nodded, "now, would you like something to eat?" I shook my head, "Not even a cracker?"

"I just want to sleep mom," I cried and brought the pillow I'd been resting on, on top of my head to block out the sound that was giving me another headache. "Can I just get a few more hours?"

"Alright," my mom whispered, and slowly made her way out of the room. Then I slowly uncovered myself from the pillow I was holding against my face, and put it back under my head again, finally closing my eyes and falling asleep.

I don't remember what I dreamt about, only that it was about Miley and Oliver, but the next time I woke up, there was my mom again, sitting next to me on a chair by my bed – only this time she was asleep and the clock read 1:30 am. I wondered how long she'd been sitting there, and looked around at the rest of my dark room now that I was miraculously recovering, and smiled at the view of the Christmas tree lights at the fire house just outside my window, despite the fact that it was starting to get close to the summer months.

"You're awake," mom whispered shocking me as she took me out of my daydream. "I didn't know what to think," my mom was now closer to me and holding my hand as small tears went down her face. "You were shaking, almost like you were having a seizure."

"I was?" I asked, not believing that I would do that in my sleep.

But my mom nodded, "I was going to take you to the emergency room," mom whispered. "But you stopped almost as suddenly as you started."

"Do you …" I started and thought about rephrasing my question. "Do you think it will happen again?"

Mom shook her head, and came to lie on the bed with me, "I don't know Lily," she turned to me. "I really don't know what to think anymore."

"I can't wait until tomorrow," I said after silence, and when I said that, my mom turned to me.

"Me too," mom agreed. "I just want you to get better."

I nodded, "I even miss going to school." I laughed.

"I bet you miss your friends too." She sighed. "Why don't you call them back anymore?"

"Honestly mom," I closed one eye as I started to get tired again. "I really don't have the energy to. Our conversation would be hello, and goodbye."

"And you don't want them to know?" Mom guessed, and I looked over at her with question on my face. "About you being sick, maybe you think they'll overreact."

I nodded this time, "mom." I whispered and shut the other eye, "can we go to sleep now?"

"Sure Lily," my mom said, before getting up and walking towards the door. "Good night, sweet dreams." Then mom walked out the door quietly, so that she didn't wake up my four year old sister Blake.

"Good night," I said, and fell into sleep completely.


	6. We Find Out

The next morning, I almost had to be dragged out of bed. I had a pounding headache again and nausea was making it harder for me to sit up.

"Lily gets up now," Blake walked into my room, and sat on the end of my bed. She was still in her pajamas, but the shoes on her feet told me that she was coming to the doctors with us. "Lily come play."

"I can't Blakie," I laughed, and attempted to sit up, holding my stomach as I did. "Are you coming with me and mommy?" Blake nodded, and her small brown curls fell in front of her eyes.

"Lily going to the doctors," Blake laughed and picked up my hand to drag me out of bed. "Lily going to get better now!"

"Thanks Blake," I smiled and suddenly the nausea didn't feel as bad anymore. "You're a great sister," I ran my fingers through her hair. "Now, go tell mom that I'm going to get ready."

Blake nodded, and ran out of the room. Then I slowly got up from my bed, and walked to my closet to pick out any clothes that I could possible find. I picked up the first shirt and jeans that I could reach; jean capris and a green long sleeved shirt.

"She's ready mommy!" Blake called out as she peaked into my room.

I laughed again, and walked slowly out of my room so that I didn't trip and fall like I had before. "Can we just get this over with," I asked my mom, who was sitting at the kitchen table. "I don't feel well at all this morning."

"Alright sweetie," mom walked over to me, bringing a granola bar with her, and holding Blake's hand. "Go start the car for me please?"

"Sure mom," I took the keys from my mom's hand and walked out into the warm California weather towards the car. I climbed in and put my belt on before I turned the car on, and by that time Blake and my mom had come outside and were coming my way. For the rest of the time, I looked out the window as the car passed by other people on the streets. When we arrived, I resisted going into the doctor's office.

"Lily Truscott," A nurse said into the waiting room, holding a clipboard and with a very serious expression on her face. "You may follow me now."

"Come on Lily," Blake laughed, not realizing what was going to happen, and dragged me towards the doctors office, where we were all told to sit down on three chairs in front of a desk.

"Oh," Blake smiled and ran towards the chairs. "I get the one in the middle!" Before we could even get into the room, Blake got into the seat and settled herself down with her hands on her lap and everything.

I had wanted to laugh at this, but was too weak at the time to do anything but take the closest seat I could find, while my mom took the other, and to wait for my doctor to come in, and to subscribe come medicine to make me feel better.

"Lily," the doctor came into the room with a very cheerful expression on his face. "Good to see you this morning, how are you feeling?"

"A little better," I answered honestly, and he wrote it on the clipboard on his desk.

He then cleared his throat, which made me a little more nervous than I'd expected to be, "Mrs. Truscott, we've reviewed Lily's tests twice," the doctor waited. "I'm sorry, Lily has a brain tumour."


	7. Almost back to Normal

"What?" Mom stumbled, and grew nervous. I sat there in shock, "Where?"

"The cerebrum," the doctor talked calmly, and I felt myself getting dizzy. "It's located at the back of the brain, above the brain stem," he pointed to his head. "There," he showed my mom. "At this point, we're not sure whether it's grown to other parts of her brain."

"Well," my mom said in her no nonsense voice. "I think you better find out then."

The doctor nodded, and took his first glance at me since revealing the news, "We'll have to get Lily an MRI." Mom nodded, "We'll suggest you to another office, and arrange an appointment for this afternoon, does that sound good?"

Mom nodded again, unable to say anything else. She was paralyzed with fear, and I knew we were never going to be the same. I myself had no idea how I was going to handle this. Was I going to lose my hair? Would I have to tell my friends?

"Are you sure it's a brain tumour?" My mom asked weakly as we attempted to walk out of the doctor's office, she was holding Blake's hand – who had been trying to drag her out unaware of what was happening. Mom took one quick glance at the doctor, with hope that this wasn't happening, but both of us were slammed back down to earth as the doctor nodded his head.

It was a quiet drive to the next doctor's office, even Blake wasn't talking – and that was unusual for her, it was unusual for all four year olds. But I think Blake, although she didn't really understand, knew that something was happening and that mom would rather not talk about it.

Obediently, she followed my mom and I when we walked into the doctors office. And Blake calmly went over to the toy table when I had to go in for my MRI.

"It will be okay," my mom said before the nurse led me towards the machine. Mom wasn't allowed to go with me, and she knew I was scared. "It will only take a short while," mom had said before she went to sit down next to Blake.

I nodded, hoping that she was right, and lay down on a long padded table as I was instructed to. "Stay still," the nurse told me, and went to the controls of the big machine I was lying under. "Do you have anything metal on you?" I shook my head, having already taken off my clothes and dressed in a hospital gown. "Good," the nurse smiled. "Now this won't hurt, we're starting the MRI now."

It was hard keeping still in the end, who knew that an MRI could last for a whole half an hour? But in the end, I thought to myself, it was worth it. Knowing whether my tumour had spread could even save my life.

"All done?" My mom asked, once I was back in the waiting room. By this time, she had been reading a magazine over Blake, who was asleep on her lap. "Alright," mom smiled and got up, bringing Blake into her arms, "let's go."

I nodded, and followed my mom out of the office and to our parked jeep on the other side of the parking lot. Again, we all got into the car silently.

"Mom," I broke the silence that had been hurting my ears. My mom looked at me in a rush, in hopes that I wasn't about to tell her that I was in pain. "What's going to happen?"

Without me saying another word, my mom knew what I was talking about. "You'll probably have radiation," mom sighed and didn't take her eyes off of the road. "Or surgery, depending. It could even be both."

I nodded again, "Will I lose my hair?"

My mom looked at me for another brief second, and I could see hurt in her eyes, "I'm afraid so Lil." She told me. "But we could go buy some more of those nice hats you like, if you want."

"Really?" I asked, glad that my mom was being so helpful.

Mom nodded, and turned the car down another street towards the mall, "we'll go right now." Mom smiled, parking as close to the entrance as she could get. "You might not want to do this once we've got you to treatments and all." Mom explained.

I nodded, and smiled back, "thanks mom." I whispered, twitching as another headache come on. "You're the best."

"We'll get you some pain killers as well," mom noted, fully noticing my ever growing headache. "You'll need them in the long run anyway."

I laughed and nodded my head at this, as my mom ran to the back of the car to unbuckle Blake and put her in an old stroller we had in the trunk. And with that, we all walked into the mall and straight to the pharmacy when my mom insisted that I needed the pain medicine now and not later when the headache will get worse.

"Lily?" I heard a familiar voice behind me as I walked through the make up section, but I didn't dare to turn around. "What are you doing here?"

I turned around slowly to face my best friend Miley, who was there picking up eye shadow that was probably for one of her Hannah Montana concerts, "Hey Miles," I said nervously. "I'm just here with my mom and sisters – picking up some Advil and stuff."

"Advil?" Miley asked, "Are you okay?

I nodded, "Just a headache," I laughed, making it seem better than it actually was. "Plus, I needed some more hats, you know – for the summer and all."

"Right," Miley smiled, agreeing with me. "I'm just here picking up new make up for tonight. I ran out the other day and almost had to go on stage without make up on. It would have been horrible, you know," Miley said casually.

I nodded, suddenly missing all those concerts with Hannah Montana. "What's tonight?" I asked, mostly in interest, but also with the slight hope of being able to go.

"Oh, just another concert in LA," Miley smiled nervously, and just then I noticed, how red Miley's eyes were, had she been upset? "Would there be any chance Lola will be there?"

I smiled, and nodded. "I'll have to ask her," I turned towards my mom, and pointed indicating that I would have to go through her first, "Be back in a sec."


	8. Good Times

Miley nodded, and I walked towards my mom at the counter paying for my medicine. She smiled to me, and I noticed Blake chewing a Hershey bar. "Do you think I can hang out with Miley tonight mom?" I asked, making sure to do it at the right time.

At first my mom seemed pretty unsure about it, and I could tell that for a while she was thinking about telling me no. "Keep pain medicine with you at all times," mom advised, giving me the idea that she was saying yes. "And if you start to feel sick, call me immediately." I nodded, "okay, you can go.

"Awesome," I smiled, and gave two thumbs up to Miley who was still standing in the make up isle. "Just let me tell Miley."

Mom nodded, "does she want to come hat shopping with us?" My mom stopped me with the question. I shrugged, "we wouldn't have to tell her, just another day at the mall. And then I can drop you girls off at Miley's house."

**Miley's POV:**

"Yay," I hugged Lily when she came back towards my direction. "I've missed you so much!"

Lily nodded, and smiled, hugging me back and jumping out of it just as quickly as she went back to her normally hyper self. "We're going hat shopping," Lily told me. "If you come around with us, my mom can drop us off at your house afterwards."

I nodded, suspiciously knowing something else was going on. "Sounds great," I smiled and walked with Lily towards her mom and little sister Blake. "What do you need hats for?"

"Oh," Lily struggled, clicking her tongue as a nervous habit. "Just running out of new hats to wear to school, you know."

I nodded, and suddenly realized what she'd just said, "So you're coming back to school then?" I asked excitedly. Lily had been out of school for the past three weeks. "When are you coming back?"

"Hopefully tomorrow," Lily whispered as we approached her mom and walked towards Lily's favourite hat shop where Lily went straight to the line of newly shipped hats. "How do you like this one?" Lily laughed, sporting a completely ridiculous hat. I shook my head, and Lily tried another one, a truck hat with black and pink stripes. I laughed, and ran to the side of Lily, which her mom and Blake stayed at the counter.

"Do you like this one?" I asked Lily, showing her the Maple Leafs Hockey hat I had put on my head. Lily smiled, and we both ran towards the wall to wall mirror at the other end of the store. We started posing, as if we were in a photo shoot, and broke into giggles on the floor.

"Girls," Mrs. Truscott stood above us, holding a stack on hats that Lily was going to buy, and a couple of Advil for Lily to take – I noticed, now that we'd stopped laughing, that Lily was holding her head again. "Why don't we get out of her," Lily's mom smiled. "I'm sure you two have a lot to catch up on and I should probably get you back to Miley's house before her father thinks I've kidnapped his daughter."

I laughed, imagining my dad freaking out as he actually would if I were late being home when I had a concert that night. "Thanks Mrs. Truscott," I got myself off the floor and lent a hand to Lily who still lay there. "It was very nice to spend the afternoon with you."

Lily's mom smiled, "Your very welcome Miley," and wheeled Blake towards the counter where she was going to pay for the hats. "We'll have to do this again."

I nodded, and walked behind Mrs. Truscott with Lily all the way back to their jeep in the parking lot. The first thing I noticed when we drove twenty minutes to my house was that the family was being unusually quiet. The Truscott family was usually full of energy, always talking and joking around, even four year old Blake. I knew something was wrong.


	9. So Far Away

"Alright girls," Lily's mom interrupted my gaze. I looked around at my surroundings; we were already at my house, in my driveway, and my dad was already coming out of the front door. "Have a great time Lily," she turned around to face us, and smiled, "Don't forget some Advil."

"Alright," Lily groaned, and got out of the car, stepping around my dad, who was now talking to my mom through the car window. "Bye mom," she waved, and I followed her into the house and into the living room where Jackson was eating popcorn with his friend Cooper.

"Oh hey Lily," Jackson said as we walked down the step and into the kitchen. "We haven't seen you around the house lately."

Lily clicked her tongue again, and I handed her a juice box from the fridge. "I've been in San Francisco with my family," Lily told both me and Jackson. "Some reunion thing I had to go to."

"Reunion?" My dad walked into the house just as Lily sat down on the stool next to me. He had heard what Lily had said and I knew by the look in his eyes that he knew something I didn't. "What kind of reunion was it Lily?"

"High school," Lily said fast, and took a sip of her drink.

Dad nodded and gave up, getting himself a juice box as well and standing in front of us at the counter. "Do you guys want anything to eat before the concert?" We nodded, "What do you want?"

I smiled and looked at Lily on my left; I could tell we were thinking the same thing, "Pizza?" We asked at the same time. "Jinx," we said together. "Jinx," we tried again, and failed.

"Jinx, Jinx, jinx," Lily yelled faster than I could get the word out. I remained silent, as that was what you were supposed to do when you were jinxed. "I always beat Miley," Lily said to my dad, and he nodded and laughed at our childish game.

"Order out?" Dad asked, talking about the pizza. We nodded, "alright, be right back then."

My dad left the room, leaving Lily and I in the kitchen, and the only noise coming from the movie that Jackson and Cooper were watching. I shrugged my shoulders and took a sip of my juice, still unable to say anything as Lily hadn't said my name yet. "Do – do you have any painkillers around here?" Lily asked, swaying in her seat. I pointed towards the shelf above the counter next to the fridge. "Thanks," Lily smiled and attempted to get up from her seat, and failed. "Miley, Miley, Miley," Lily whispered, breaking the jinx. "Could you please get some for me?"

I rushed to get the bottle of Advil from the kitchen, worried enough to almost break the glass of water I was trying to get to help the pills go down. "Are you okay?" I asked when I have walked back to Lily.

"Yeah," Lily swallowed the pills and rubbed her forehead with her thumbs, "Just another headache. It's nothing to worry about really."

"Okay," I said with concern. Wishing I knew what was going on. "Do you feel well enough to go up to my room?"

Lily nodded, and I took her hand to lead her up the stairs. She was still holding her head by the time we got to my closet.

"Lily," I tried to act casual, sitting down next to Lily who was on the floor, feeling a little better by the looks of it. "Is everything okay with you? I mean, you haven't been in school for quite a while and – and it just seems as if these headaches aren't just normal headaches." I looked up at Lily, questioning her with a look in my eyes. But Lily just leaned back on the wall, and brought her knees up to her chest.

"I'm fine Miley," Lily sighed, and it seemed like she was saying that more to insure herself. "I really am. I would tell you if something was wrong." I nodded, not quite believing her. "I – I went to …" Lily started.

"Miley, Lily?" my dad interrupted Lily, and I could hear him coming up the stairs to my bedroom. I looked at Lily, hoping that she would finish her sentence, but she was going towards Lola's clothes. "Miles?" I heard my dad again, and turned around to find him at the entrance of my closet. "The dinners coming soon, just thought you might want to know that."

"Thanks dad," I smiled and pointed towards the clothes I had laid out, hoping he would get what I was saying.

"Alright then," he understood, and walked backwards out of my room. "I'll leave you girls to it, and see you in the kitchen in ten." I nodded, "all ready for the concert?" He pointed his finger and squinted his eyes. I nodded again.


	10. A Little Hope

I looked at Lily once he'd left, but it seemed like she'd abandoned the idea of telling me what she was going to say. So instead, I turned back to my clothes, whistling one of my songs to myself and getting dressed for the concert – minus the wig, for now. "All ready," I sang, walking towards Lily on the other side of the closet. She'd picked out her clothes, but for some reason she had been looking at her Lola wig she'd been holding in her hands for the past ten minutes.

"Me too," Lily mumbled, turning around to face me, dropping the wig on the table, and took a while to suddenly turn back to her hyper self. "I am totally psyched for this concert! Three weeks was a long time to stay away from you, you know."

"I know," I laughed, ignoring the sudden change of mood. "Remember, I had three weeks without you too. And it was unusually quiet at school, even the teachers noticed."

"So the teachers missed me?" Lily asked surprised.

"No," I hugged one arm around her shoulder and we walked towards the staircase. "They just noticed you weren't there." Lily laughed, and I walked down the stairs with Lily behind me.

"Smells awesome in here Mr. S," Lily said once we'd gotten into the kitchen and sat down in front of the plates on the counter. My dad had the pizza box open on the island so that we could pick up another slice if we wanted. "Where'd you order from?"

Dad smiled, rubbing his hands together and grabbing a slice for himself. "I got it from Planet Pizza," my dad showed us the top of the box. "I thought I would try somewhere new."

Lily and I sighed, and lifted up our own slices of cheese pizza. We usually bought the pizza from the pizzeria around the corner, and I had no idea what sparked the idea of buying this one. "It's actually good," I told my family.

Dad nodded his head, and took another bite from his already half done pizza. "Are you going to eat Lily?" He said through a mouthful of pizza. I turned my head to my left, realizing that I hadn't noticed Lily hadn't touched her food yet. She looked distant, like she was thinking about something else.

"Yeah," Lily said cheerfully, turning to her pizza and refusing to up at us. She took a small bite, "yum, this is really good pizza Mr. S," Lily smiled and looked up, "If dinner is always like this than I should come over to your house every night." She laughed, and took another bite from the pizza.

"Your welcome anytime," my dad smiled at us and got up from his seat, bringing his plate to the dishwasher. Grabbing another slice of pizza in his hand, he walked towards the living room where he sat on the couch with his guitar. "But just letting you know that you have five minutes to get yourselves into the car." We nodded, and Lily brought her plate to the dishwasher, throwing away the crusts that she hadn't eaten.

We piled into the car ten minutes later than my dad had wanted. I had purposely gone slowly when I put my plate into the dishwasher, and then we both ended up in hysterics on the floor until we were yelled at to get up.

"Can you sleep over tonight?" I asked once we'd calmed down and had our backs to the cabinets.

Lily sighed, and nodded her head, picking herself up from the floor. "I'll have to ask my mom," Lily said to me, now that I was standing up as well. "May I use the phone?"


	11. Could the truth be Out?

**Lily's POV: **

_I listened to the ringing on Miley's side of the phone, and waited for my mom to answer the phone. _

"_Hello?" I heard my mom's worried tone._

"_Hey mom," I said nervously, watching Miley on the other side of the room. _

"_Lily," my mom sounded relieved. "Are you alright? Do you want me to come pick you up or something?"_

_I shook my head, not realizing she couldn't see it. "I was wondering if I could sleep over at Miley's."_

_When I asked that I could hear my mom sigh and I knew she was going to say no. "Do you realize," my mom started, "That you might have to start treatments tomorrow after school?" _

"_I know," I whined, twirling my hair around my finger. Miley looked at me with a strange look, mouthing to me whether everything was okay or not. I nodded._

"_Alright," my mom gave up, and I could hear Blake in the background. And she sounded as if she was being a handful. "You can stay over. But take Advil if you get another headache and call me in the morning before you go to school." I agreed and my mom went on. "Then you have to come straight home from school, so that we can get to the hospital without being late for once."_

"_Alrighty," I laughed. "Got it, eat lots of junk food, and stay up all night. Bye mom!"_

Now I was listening to Miley's music in the background, the hundreds of fans, and trying to ignore the headache that was coming. I wouldn't let this one ruin my fun.

"You okay there?" Miley's dad came up behind me. He had come out of Hannah Montana's dressing room, cleaning up the food table that Miley and I had attacked before the concert, "You seem a little sick."

"I'm fine," I laughed trying to make it seem as if I was.

Miley's dad walked closer to me, and sat down on the box in the corner where I was standing. "I don't know Lily," he crossed his arms across his chest, and sighed – just like my mom does when she tries to get information from me, "because your mom told me to look out for you."

"Look out for me?" I said, pretending to act surprised by this. "Why on earth would my mom say that?"

"Maybe because," Miley's dad rose his eyebrows. "You've been sick for the past three weeks."

I laughed again, this time out of nervousness. I had no idea what Mr. Stewart knew, "I really don't know what you mean," I told him. "I've been in San Francisco for three weeks with my parents."

"I'm sure," he smiled and started to get up from his seat on the boxes in the corner. "You girls be good, I've got to get some things ready back at home. The car should be outside when Ms. Hannah Montana is done." I nodded, "see you girls later."

I waved, and Miley's dad left through the back door. "Bye, pick up some s'mores on the way home?" He nodded, and officially left. While I waited until the concert was over, running Mr. Stewarts interrogation through my mind and completely not realizing that I hadn't noticed Miley coming off stage.

"Lola?" She waved her hand in front of my face. "Lola?"

I shook my head and came out of my daze, closing my eyes and I blinked at Miley standing in front of me, "oh hey Hannah." I waved with a smile. "When did you get out?"

Miley laughed and sat down next to me and just then did I notice I'd sat down on the floor after her dad had left, "Only a whole ten minutes ago." I looked over to where Miley sat next to me, and listened to the crowd still cheering for Hannah Montana. "Do you want to go now?" Miley asked, pointing her thumb towards the door, "I hear my dads bringing s'mores home."

"S'mores?" I laughed, panicking about whether Miley had heard or not. "Awesome, I love s'mores."

Miley smiled, and stood up – holding her hand out for me to take. "Me too," Miley said as we started to walk away. "I heard you convince him, good job my friend."

"Thank you," I said with my best Elvis impression. "Thank you, thank you very much."

We fell into hysterics, walking outside to the car that was waiting for us at the curb, and Miley finally took off her wig as we passed the crowds of fans by car and made our way onto the highway towards her house.


	12. Just Like Any Other Day

"That was an amazing concert," I told Miley, who was fixing her messy curly hair, and trying to rub off her Hannah makeup, while I secretly took more Advil. "I had so much fun!"

"Oh, I did as well!" Miley laughed, "You have no idea how glad I've been to hang out with you again."

"Ditto," I laughed. "I'm so sorry I didn't return any of your calls or anything."

Miley stopped and smiled at me weakly, crossing her legs on the seat, "that's alright," she told me, even though I could tell that she had been worried. "I mean, you were on vacation and everything. I was just, kind of worried about you – Oliver too, we – we didn't know where you were."

I nodded – having no idea what I was supposed to say to that, "San Francisco wasn't planned," I lied. "I mean, ahead of time. Mom and dad lost the letter and then realized two days before the reunion."

"Sounds cool," Miley said, after considering her answer for quite some time. "I wish my dad would take Jackson and me to his high school reunion."

I laughed, trying to make this sound authentic, "Trust me," I told Miley. "You don't want to go to one. They are so boring – I mean all the parents do is talk about what they were like in high school." I laughed again, really getting into these lies. "There's stories, jokes and teachers that I had no idea about, I just stood there quietly and took care of Blake."

Miley nodded, and smiled before turning to look out the window. She was thinking about something, and I wish I could read minds at the moment in time. "Still sounds fun to me," Miley told me. "Am I weird to think that?" I shook my head, "good."

"I think my weirdness evens out yours," I announced, having no idea what in the world I was talking about. "It's why we make such good friends."

"Definitely," Miley agreed, taking a quick look outside to see how close to the house we were. "What do you want to do when we get to my house?"


	13. Sweet Dreams

"Hey Mr. S," Miley and I ran into the house after the car had parked in the driveway. We had intended on going straight to Miley's room to watch movies all night. "Bye Mr. S," I called on our way up the stairs.

"Wait girls," Miley's dad stopped us half way up the stairs. I saw Miley roll her eyes before he appeared at the bottom. "Are we still going to make some s'mores?" He asked holding up a bag of marshmallows, we nodded and started down the stairs. "But," Mr. S held the marshmallows from our reach. "You have to go straight to bed afterwards. I don't want to send Lily home acting like a zombie."

"Fine," Miley screamed, rushing to get the marshmallows from her dad's hands. But when Mr. S made it more difficult for her, Miley started to give up, and walk towards the fireplace with her dad – who had set up s'mores sticks, chocolate and crackers. Before I reached where they were sitting, as I trying to walk through my state of dizziness, I heard Miley thank her dad. Miley looked really excited about this, I just wished I could be too.

When I reached the couch, Miley's dad looked at me – probably because I was walking in a jagged line, with his eyebrows raised, "You alright Lily?" He whispered, making sure that Miley, who was roasting her first marshmallow for the night, didn't hear. I nodded, and he gave me a look that told me that he didn't believe me, "are you sure?"

"Totally and completely," I smiled, and then got off the couch to join Miley with my own marshmallow. Before long Miley and I were laughing again, most likely because of the sugar rush of four s'mores.

I could see Miley's dad slap his forehead from the corner of my eye. He was heading towards us with his arms crossed, and a smile of his face. "Alright girls," he said, taking away our marshmallows. "I really think it's time to get to bed now." Laughing, Miley and I groaned, reaching for another marshmallow from the packet that sat in-between us. "No," Mr. S took the bag from our reach and put it on top of the fridge. "March yourselves upstairs and I'll come say good night to you when I stop hearing noise." We nodded, and he kissed both of our foreheads, "Good night."

"Good night," Miley and I said in unison as we laughed at the fact that we weren't about to move from our spot. Miley's dad turned his back for a few seconds and then realized that we weren't going up the stairs. He turned around and we both smiled and waved in innocence. Mr. S laughed and rolled his eyes, saying nothing and pointing to the stairs motioning for us to go up them.

"Alright, alright," Miley gave up and took my hand to drag me up the stairs. "We'll just watch a couple movies when we get up to my room," Miley told me when we'd gone up half way. "He'll never know if we put the volume of low." I nodded, and we continued to go up the stairs when all a sudden I felt dizzier than I had ever been before. I reached for the railing, and held onto it as tight as my weak arms could hold. When I felt like I was falling I gripped the railing with my other arm, and the room was starting to spin. I felt so weak, I couldn't even hold on anymore, my legs were going to give out and I was going to fall. I'm not sure, but I think I called out to Miley, who was already up the stairs. The last thing I remember hearing was two people calling my name.


	14. Into the Rush

**Robby Ray's POV: **(A/N: that's Miley's dad)

"That'll do it," I whispered to myself as I hid the marshmallow bag in the way back of the cabinet. Far enough inside that Miley and Lily would have to look really hard in order to find them again. I smiled to myself, and walked over to the couch the girls once occupied, waiting for the noise on the stairs to calm down and for the girls to go into Miley's room and try to sleep.

I was about to yell to them when I heard a loud thump. Immediately I knew who had fallen down, that was what I was told by Mrs. Truscott to look for. I ran towards the stairs in a rush to find Lily unconscious and Miley at her side.

"Is she going to be alright?" Miley asked, almost teary eyed as I put Lily in my arms and brought her back down to the living room.

I took one look at Lily's pale complexion and shallow breathing and I tried to come up with a silver lining. "I think so Miley," I lied to my daughter. I had been told about Lily's brain tumour yesterday, but had specific instructions not to tell Miley until Lily was ready to. "We'll just get a cold cloth and some water and wait until she wakes up." Miley nodded and went into the kitchen while I put Lily on the couch, she didn't stir at all and I was getting worried.

"Here we go dad," Miley handed me a wet kitchen cloth and a couple bottles of water, and then went to sit on the floor beside Lily. Without talking she watched as I put the cloth on her forehead and squirted some water into Lily's mouth. And after a while, Miley started to panic as Lily still didn't move or come to consciousness. "What's wrong with her dad?" Miley begged.

I shrugged, knowing that I couldn't tell my daughter what was really going on, "Miles, we'll just have to wait." I told her, trying to calm both myself and her down, "If it gets any worse than we're going to take her to a hospital."

"But Dad," Miley cried, not intending on finishing her sentence. She crawled over to where I was sitting on the floor and took my arm to put around her shoulders. "Will she be okay?" Miley whispered. I nodded and wiped away Miley's tears.

It was only a short while before Miley fell asleep in my arms. I don't know whether she was comfortable there, but I decided against waking her up until Lily woke up. I looked at the clock, it had been half an hour since I'd placed Lily on that couch, but it didn't seem like her condition was getting any worse. In attempt to check, I got Miley out of my arms and lay her down on the floor as I crawled over to where Lily's head was on the couch and ran some cold water on the cloth.

"Come on," I whispered, "Wake up Lily." I closed my eyes, hoping that when I opened them again Lily would be awake. But when she wasn't, I actually prayed for her, Lily was like a daughter to me. I held on to Lily's limp hand and squeezed it; sighing I rested my head on the empty space, what I didn't expect was what happened next. The limp hand in mine moved the tiniest bit and squeezed me back. So lightly that I hadn't even realized it had happened at first. I waited for Lily to do that again, but her hand had gone limp in mine again. I sighed again and continued to rest my head on the couch, watching both Lily and Miley sleep – not getting a blink myself.

Around 2 in the morning Lily's breathing became even shallower, and I could hear her grasping for breath as I replaced the cold cloth on her burning forehead. Immediately I ran to the kitchen for the thermometer to take Lily's temperature because I was sure that she had a fever.

"Come on Lily," I whispered, placing the thermometer underneath her tongue. "Please be alright." I checked my watch, making sure that I kept the thermometer under her tongue long enough. As soon as my watch hit five minutes I ripped it out and looked at the temperature underneath a small lamp we had on the table. I read 103.4, and knew that I had to take Lily to the hospital.

"Miley," I whispered trying to shake her awake, but she wouldn't budge. I yelled louder, knowing that there wasn't anyone besides Jackson that would wake up. "Miley!"

Miley woke up with a jolt, looking around at her surroundings, and then resting on me. I could see panic in her eyes when she whispered back to me, "Is Lily okay?" I shook my head, and Miley was up on her feet before I even realized it.

I got up with her quickly afterwards to find Miley wiping away more tears. I gave her a reassuring smile before I went upstairs to Jackson's room to wake him up and tell him where we were going.

"Jackson?" I whispered, shaking him. He immediately responded, being a light sleeper.

"Dad," he whispered, rubbing his eyes to get the sleepys out. "Is everything alright?"

I shook my head again, and Jackson got out of bed to get his jacket on. "Lily's running a high fever," I told him as we walked down the stairs. "I think we've got to take her to the hospital."

Jackson nodded, and took Lily in his arms once we'd gotten downstairs. Miley had been ready and on her way to the car with a blanket and pillow in her hands. "I knew something was wrong with Lily," Jackson whispered to me, making sure that Miley, who was still crying, couldn't hear. "Will she be alright?"

I sighed, shrugging my shoulders, and opened the car down for Jackson and Lily who were going in the back so that Jackson could lay Lily down.

I quickly shut the door for them, and ran towards my side of the car. Without even thinking I got into the car, turned on the engine, put my seatbelt on and zoomed out of the driveway towards the hospital.

"Miley," I said, throwing a cell phone in her lap. "You need to call Lily's parents and tell them to meet us at Century City Hospital." Miley nodded, and called Lily's house number straight away.

"No one's answering," Miley told me, putting the phone in the pocket in front of her. "I'll try them again later."


	15. Not Standing Alone

I nodded, paying attention to the roads and nothing else. Within the next ten minutes we made it into the emergency room where two doctors took Lily on a gurney and left me with the paper work, half of which I filled out with the information that Miley had given me.

When we were done, Miley and I sat down with Jackson on the waiting room chairs. I finally had a chance to slow down and look at my surroundings, maybe even grab a coffee or two now that the fact I'd stayed up all night was catching up with me.

"I'm going to get a drink," I told my kids, who were sitting there with blank faces on, and staring into space. "Do you want anything Jackson?"

Jackson nodded and got up to come to the coffee machine with me. Miley didn't seem to notice, she'd been staring into space since we got here. "What do you know about Lily that we don't dad?" Jackson asked when we were far away from anyone else. I shrugged my shoulders and went to get a cup of coffee but Jackson stopped me, "I know you know."

I smiled, proud that Jackson could tell, but I knew that I couldn't tell him, "She's just going through a rough patch that's all." I told Jackson, satisfied with my answer, "I'm sure that Lily can handle it, she's a strong girl."

Jackson nodded, biting his lip and looking at his sister in the corner. "I don't want coffee anymore," he told me, and then walked off towards where Miley was sitting. When he sat, I saw Jackson give Miley some tissues so that she could wipe her tears away.

Quickly, I turned around and got some coffee, without milk, without sugar, so that I could get back to Jackson and Miley to comfort them. I walked over towards them, sipping my coffee at the same time, and sat down, putting my hand on Miley's knee. She looked up at me, with tears in her eyes.

"Lily," she whispered, trying to get up as Jackson and I struggled to keep her down. "Where's Lily? Is she going to be alright? Dad," Miley cried, lunging for my shoulder to cry on. "Please find out for me dad," she whispered into my shoulder, "Please."

I nodded my head, and stroked Miley's hair, "I'll try Miles," I whispered back, telling Jackson with my eyes to stay there and keep his sister from breaking down. "Just give me a second, okay?" Miley took her head off of me, and slowly nodded her head, wiping her tears with the torn tissue that Jackson had given her before.

When I got up, I tried to find the closest doctor I could, so that I could still keep an eye on my children in the corner. But I couldn't find a single doctor who wasn't rushing towards the operating room or managing a major accident that had just come through. So I went up to the front desk.

"What can you tell me about Lily Truscott?" I asked the nurse who sat behind the desk. She nodded her head and held up one finger telling me to wait as she typed something into the computer.

"I can tell you that Lily Truscott is in room 2A," The nurse read off the computer screen, writing the information on a note card with the hand that she wasn't using. "And that her doctors are Dr. Warren Chow in Oncology, and Dr. Mitchell Lambert."

"Oncology?" I whispered at the nurse, who was now handing me the piece of paper she had been writing this down on. "Does that mean this has to do with the brain tumour?"

The nurse shrugged, "I can page the doctor if you want to sir," she told me calmly, even though I was far from being calm right now. "Dr. Warren Chow will answer anything you want to ask." I nodded, letting her call the doctor and tapped my finger over the counter until I was glared at. "The doctor will be with you in a minute," the nurse smiled, putting down the phone and pointing to where I could wait for him.

I sat down where I was told, keeping a close eye on Miley and Jackson who were snuggled in the corner with a blanket over them – I was hoping that they had fallen asleep and had gotten at least some sleep. I looked at my watch, sighing as I realized it was now 5:30 in the morning. Right now I wasn't sure whether Miley or Jackson would be going to school today, but I thought that after we found out about Lily that I should try and reach her parents so that I could take my kids home and have them sleep, shower and change.

"Mr. Stewart?" A tall, oriental man stood in front of me with his hand ready to shake mine. "I'm Dr. Chow, I understand you have some questions about my patient Lily Truscott."

I nodded, and motioned for the doctor to sit down in the seat next to me, and when he did, I wasn't sure I was prepared to get the answers I was already dreading. "Does this, this incident have to do with the cancer?"

The doctor shook his head, and looked at me with calming eyes, "Lily Truscott has been a patient at this hospital since all of us could remember the time she painted her hospital room with the markers her friend Oliver gave to her." The doctor explained as I became more and more confused. "Lily has a very weak immune system, and is prone to getting sick easy as you and I can sing our ABC's." I nodded, and waited for the doctor to continue. I was starting to understand what he was talking about, "She fainted because of a common cold. It was too much for her body to take, so it shut down."

"Will she be okay Dr. Chow?" I asked, ringing my hands together out of nervous habit. "This is my daughter's best friend," I pointed towards where Miley and Jackson were sitting. "She's been in hysterics since we got here."

The doctor nodded again, "Lily will be fine in a couple of days," Dr. Chow told me. "She's got to stay in here until we've got the infection fought, and then we've got to start some radiation."

"How many is a couple of days?" I asked, for Miley's sake – because I knew she would want to stay here until Lily was back home.

The doctors scrunched his nose in thought and looked at Lily's chart on the clipboard in his hand, "I would say about a week or two." I nodded, and thanked the doctor for his time, getting up to go back to my kids in the corner. But then I remember one thing.

"Is she awake?" I asked the doctor who was just about to turn his back on me and walk away. "Can we go see her?"

Dr. Chow shook his head, and looked in the direction of Miley and Jackson, "I'm afraid she is neither awake or ready to see anybody. But I will tell you when we allow visitors." I thanked him again, and we both walked away.

I knew almost all the answers now, and I was dreading to hear what Miley wanted to know. But thankfully when I got back to our seats, only Jackson was awake – with Miley's head resting on his lap.


	16. Silver Lining

**Miley's POV:**

I fell asleep on Jackson's lap when my dad went to talk to doctor, and the next thing I knew my dad was waking me up. I had already forgotten I was in the hospital when I came to, and felt a ton of bricks fall on my shoulders when I realized why we were there.

"Miley," my dad shook me awake, and I woke up slowly rubbing my eyes as I did. "Miley, you have to wake up sweetie – we're going home to get refreshed."

I looked around at my surroundings, it had gotten busier at the hospital while more accidents came in, and Lily's parents had arrived and sat in the corner across from us. "I don't want to go home," I complained to my dad and Jackson who already had their coats on. "I need to stay here, I need to see Lily."

My dad brought me up to my feet and pulled me into a hug, "Miley we can't see Lily," he told me as he kissed the top of my head. "Let's get home, and maybe we can see Lily when we get back." I shook my head aggressively, pulling away from the hug and crossing my arms against my chest, tears had started to run down my face already.

"Alright," I wiped my tears, and nodded my head letting my dad know that I would go home with him. "I'll go, but we've got to come right back." My dad agreed, and I mouthed thanks to him, he nodded and put his arm around my shoulders to lead me out of the hospital. Jackson trailed behind, carrying the blanket and pillow I had brought when we came.

When we hopped into the car and before my dad turned on the engine, he turned to me – taking one look before he turned onto the road. I refused to say anything at all until we got into the house when I told my dad and brother that I was going to take a shower.

"Okay Miley," dad stroked my hair and allowed me to go up the stairs.

I took a while before getting into the shower, taking my time to look at all the pictures of my friends that I had on one wall in my room. I smiled at a picture of me, Oliver and Lily at the beach on the fourth of July. We had spend all night writing our names in the sky with the large box of sparklers that Lily had brought, and eating hamburgers until we felt like we were going to throw up.

By the time I'd reached the picture of Me and Lily at her first Hannah Montana concert, I'd given up the idea of taking a shower, and instead sat on my bed and lay on my back to look at the ceiling of glow in the dark stars Lily and I had put up during a sleep over we had during April vacation. It seemed like so long ago now.

"Miley?" I sat up on my bed when I heard my dad coming up the stairs. "Are you up there? Are you ready to go back to the hospital?" I nodded my head, because by this time my dad had reached my bedroom door and made his way to sit on the bed next to me. "I think you should get changed first," my dad told me. I looked down at myself and noticed that I was still in my pajamas from last night. I nodded my head again, sighing as I got up from the bed. "I'll meet you downstairs," my dad told me.

Once I'd made sure that my dad left, I got into my closest and picked out a pair of sequined jean shorts and a white long sleeved shirt that I didn't even bother to look and see if it looked alright. I just rushed down the stairs so that I could get to the hospital as soon as possible.

When I got downstairs my dad and Jackson were gathering snacks and drinks to bring back for everyone. "Are you ready to go?" Dad asked when I walked into the kitchen. I nodded and he tapped Jackson – who had all of the food in bags in his arms, to indicate that we were going into the car.

Though the car ride was quiet, the hospital – when we arrived back to where we had been sitting earlier that morning was booming with noise, as yet another trauma patient came in strapped to a gurney and a few doctors were called to various rooms.

My dad dragged me to the seat across from Mr. and Mrs. Truscott – who looked like they had both been crying, and just like that, I felt like crying again.

"She'll be fine," Mrs. Truscott said through tears. She'd come to sit next to me and now had a hand on my shoulder, "Lily will be out in a week, and she'll be fine."

I nodded my head and smiled at Mrs. Truscott's positive thinking, "She will." I agreed with Lily's mom, just before we both started breaking down once again. I looked at Mr. Truscott, who was standing in front of me with my dad, and he nodded and smiled at me. "I know Lily's going to be okay," I told myself. I could feel that this was a sign.


	17. Holding On

**Lily's POV:**

I woke up when it was still dark, whether it was night or morning – I didn't know.

When I looked around I had machines attached to me, surrounding my bed until there was almost no room to move around. I knew this because I tried to flip to my other side when the one I was laying on had fallen asleep; I had an IV in my hand and a different drip in the fold of my arm. I figured it would be best for me to fall back asleep, instead of struggling with all the wires that held me down.

I lay back down into my bed, and pulled the covers up until they were closer to my chin. "I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Truscott," I heard from outside my room. "I don't think Lily is ready to see anybody."

I leaned my head closer towards the door so that I could hear what my mom said back, "Is she awake? Is Lily going to be okay?"

I heard silence, not able to find out whether the doctors opinion on whether I was going to be okay or not, and then I heard my mom sobbing, and falling to the ground. My stomach dropped, "Don't tell that to Lily," I heard my mom cry to my dad. "Lily has to know that everything is going to be alright, positive thinking."

"Positive thinking," I heard my dad repeat, and then I could tell that they were both getting up from the floor now, because I could hear the clack of my mom's high heals against the hospital floor.

I tried shutting my eyes again after that, but my mom's words repeated in my head until I could feel tears running down my cheeks. And for the first time since I found out about my brain tumour, I thought about death, and how this was the way it could end for me. I thought about what it was going to be like, going through surgery and radiation treatment – how I was going to feel afterwards, and whether it was going to work or not. And then I thought about Oliver and Miley – what I was going to tell them, how I was going to tell them, and wondering how and what they were doing at this very second.

"Lily?" I heard Miley's voice outside the door, and her rhythmic rap on the door. I heard her open the door, despite the rules I knew she was breaking. "Lily, be alright, be alright," Miley chanted to herself as she came closer to my bed. I had already closed my eyes again so that I wouldn't have to face my friends just yet.

I felt Miley sit on my bed, and take my hand, "Hey Lily," she whispered. "You look great," Miley laughed nervously. "I – I mean that, you've got your colour back. Well – compared to yesterday, and the doctor says your temperature is down and you can breath on your own." Miley smiled, I could see it now that my eyes were squinted. "I'm not supposed to be in here, apparently you're not allowed to see visitors yet," Miley announced. "But I just said I had to go to the bathroom and well – I just walked into your room."

In the hallway I could hear a doctor walk by the room, Miley flinched in my hand and I knew she was going to leave soon. "Well," Miley sighed, giving my hand one last squeeze before I could feel her getting off the bed. "I've got to go; I'll talk to you later. I guess."

I almost nodded my head, but I knew I couldn't, so I listened to Miley walk out of the room, and have a nurse walk in a half a second later.

"Your friend is quite the sneaky one," she told me, thinking that I was still unconscious as she checked my vitals and replaced the bag of the unnamed drip that lead to the fold of my arm. "I can't say she's going to get in trouble though, I wouldn't turn her in, she's the cutest thing." The nurse tucked my sheets into the bed so that they were tighter around me. "Been here all along, been crying in the corner, the poor thing."

I could tell the nurse was quite used to these one sided conversations. She had something to say every time she walked into my room, and didn't care whether she got a response or not. This nurse would tell me about what was happening with my family, and announce my vitals out loud without meaning to.

It was when she told me about Miley again that I decided to 'wake up'.

I was in the hospital for my third day, and Miley and Oliver had snuck in twice already to see how I was doing. Once they left, of course, the regular nurse came in and started to talk to me.

"They are the cutest things," she told unconscious me that afternoon after Miley and Oliver stopped by in the morning. "I don't think that Miley is ever going to leave this here hospital until you come to. You guys must be best friends," the nurse laughed, and checked my vitals. "It seems your blood count is almost back to normal Lily," she announced, "Should be waking up soon then." I quietly moaned to show the nurse I was alright and she laughed again. "Well let's see," The nurse sat on my bed to replace the tape on my IV. "Oliver's been catching Miley up on school lately, and I think you guys have a project due in a week. A play from what I heard, it sounds interesting." I moved my arm slightly. "Miley sounded excited about it, sounds like she's going to be going back to school tomorrow to work on it."

I silently laughed at the last play Oliver and Miley had done, and hoped for Oliver's sake that this one wasn't going to be Shakespeare.

"Perhaps if you're ready," the nurse sighed. "I can pull some strings and get you out of here for the day to go see Miley and Oliver when they perform." I moved my other arm slightly and flickered my eyes open slowly. My nurse, who I could see clearly now as a young women who looked like she might have just graduated from medical school. She had a warm smile on her face, genuine and not fake. "Good afternoon Lily," she said. "Glad to finally see you awake. Are you feeling alright?" I nodded, clearing my voice so that I could try and talk. My nurse noticed this, "your throat is a little bit dry," she told me, giving me a bottle of water to drink from. "It may hurt to talk for a while, but it should go away in a couple of days." I nodded again, and my nurse rushed out of the room – most likely to announce to the many waiting outside for me, that I was now awake. And as I predicted it, I started to hear tears of joy and cheers coming from my family and friends who now stood outside of my door.

I heard the doorknob turn, and the first faces I saw were my parents. They were smiling like crazy, especially my mom. "Sweetie," she hugged me and sat down on my bed while my dad stayed standing. "Lily, your back, Lily, you have no idea. I love you," she hugged me again and when she pulled away I saw her wipe tears away from her face.

"How are you feeling Lil?" My dad asked, taking a chair and sitting it right next to me on the other side of the bed. "Dizzy? Does your head hurt? Nauseous?" I shook my head, and he hugged me just as tight as my mom had before.

"Lily," my mom said to me in a serious tone after we'd remained in comfortable silence for a few moments. "They're going to have to take you into surgery while you're here." I nodded my head. Afraid of 'being under the knife', as I had never had a medical procedure quite like that done to me before. "Surgery and some treatments of radiation. The doctor said it would be best if we combined the two – better chances." I nodded again; my mom seemed to choke at the last few words.

"Will I loose hair?" I asked, shocked at my own raspy voice, just as much as my parents.

My mom nodded, "for the surgery they'll just shave where they have to make the incision, but as you will loose it later on, I think you might want to consider shaving it all off now."

"I'll think about it," I whispered to my parents. I was so worried about loosing my hair, "When – when will I have to go into surgery?"

My mom and dad looked at each other before answering which meant that I really didn't want to know, "there's a slot for tomorrow," my mom reached to hold my hand, and my dad stroked my hair. "If we don't do it then, you might not have another chance for a couple of months, and – and, by then," my mom stopped.

"By then," my dad continued. "The tumour might grow larger, and you'll get worse."

I nodded my head, understanding. "I'll do it tomorrow then," I smiled bravely at my parents. "Just, please, remember not to tell my friends about this. That's my job," my parents agreed, and left the room so that more visitors could come in. Even though I knew it hurt them a lot not to be with me at that moment.

Right after they left I heard Miley's rhythmic tap against the door frame, and I looked up to see Oliver and Miley standing there, huge smiled on their faces.

"Lily, Lily, Lily!" Miley smiled, hugging me harder than anyone so far. Oliver laughed, and we did the handshake we made up when we were in the third grade. "You have no idea how much I have to tell you," Miley announced, sitting on my bed, with Oliver by her side. I nodded my head for Miley to go on, "They've assigned another play yesterday at school," she smiled at Oliver and we both laughed. "So Oliver signed me up to be partners with him, and I have to go back to school tomorrow to work on it. But the nurse said that she would find a way for you to get out of the hospital for the day."

"To come see us," Oliver interrupted so that he could talk. "I promise not to make any jokes or mess up or anything. Just a good time," I nodded.

"And your mom," Miley announced, almost jumping up and down as she said this. "She said that we could go out for dinner before we brought you back to the hospital. You know, as celebration."

"For the play," Oliver cut in, "And your awakening."

"Great guys," I smiled, unable to take all of this in at the same time.

Miley's smiled faded and little bit and she brought the back of her palm to my forehead, "what happened to your voice Lily?" She asked, trying to keep her voice calm. "Are you alright?"

I nodded my head, and dragged Miley – who was getting off of the bed to call a nurse, back down next to me. "The nurse said that it would be raspy for a couple of days. I promise I'd tell you if I was getting another fever."

Miley and Oliver nodded and sighed with relief, "I guess we should leave you now." Oliver said, taking Miley's hand and lifting her off of the bed.

"It was so great seeing you," Miley hugged me, a huge smile on her face as she left the room.

I smiled, glad to be back, but my stomach would not let me forget about my scheduled surgery tomorrow,

**A/N: I will be at camp for the next two weeks, and whether or not I'll be able to update is still under consideration. I might or might not be able to bring my laptop, but I promise that if I can't that I'll work on this story in a notebook and come back home with a bunch of new chapters for you all.**

** 3 ChillinInNZ**


	18. Authors Note, woot

Well hey guys!

I'm finally back from camp! Thank you for the good reviews and such.

I had a great time skating, even met Kimmie Meissner and got an autograph, if there are any figure skating fans out there.

Now I can finally get back to the story, which I wrote some of in my journal while I was away. Not much, but I should be able to write some more tonight, depending on what my half sister Katie and I decide to do tonight. If nothing gets posted tonight then I'll have some tomorrow, and then the next day. But after that – I'm driving up to Cape Cod with my seven sisters and brothers and my mom, and that takes about 7 hours. Thus, I will not be posting more until Tuesday.

Alrighty, I'm going to finish watching Rent with my half sisters and then make some dinner.

3 Rosie


	19. Take My Pain Away

So nervous that I slept exactly one and a half hours that night, fighting fear and struggling between shaving all my hair off now or waiting for it to fall out. I wondered whether I would make a good enough excuse that Miley and Oliver wouldn't think twice about.

All night I stared at the ceiling of my hospital room, and shifted my weight over to the other side when my arm started to get numb. I listened to the noise the nurses and doctors made when they passed the room, and concentrated on their conversation. In fact, I had been concentrating so hard, that I hadn't heard my mom come in.

"Lily?" She whispered, deciding to sit on my bed and grabbing the hand that had no IV. "Are you alright?" I nodded my head, "Are you ready for surgery?" I shook my head and moaned; my mom smiled weakly and rubbed my hand with her thumb. "Have you decided?" My mom asked, and I knew she was talking about my hair.

Subconsciously, I reached to touch the ends of my braided hair. "I have no clue," I whined to my mom, and took a second to think about it. "I want to keep it."

My mom nodded, "I should take Blake home, your aunt Katherine is there to take care of her – so I'll be right back," she announced. "Daddy and I will be there when you come out of surgery." I nodded my head, unable to say anything, and my mom started to get up as a nurse with a suspicious tray came in. My mom nodded hello to her, and left completely, with a nervous last wave to me.

Then the nurse with the tray walked up to me, and from where I was, I could see a long needle. "Okay," the nurse smiled. "This is going to put you asleep for surgery – it shouldn't hurt a bit." I nodded, and cringed at the sting as it pierced my skin. Almost immediately I felt woozy, and distantly I could hear the nurse telling me to count down from 100.

I obeyed counting out loud to the fading nurse, "100, 99, 98." The nurse smiled, and patted my shoulder. "97, 96, 9…" And then the last I remember the world faded to black and I watched as colours flew past me. Then I was flying over a field of flowers, watching Blake at one year old picking daisies with a younger me and my older brother Harrison. I remembered this from when we were on vacation in British Columbia, two months before Harrison died after being hit by a drunk driver. It had been my favourite vacation ever since. Next I knew, I was flying over the elementary school playground. Over a sand box that three year old Oliver and I were sitting in. It was the first time I'd met Oliver, and because of a shovel that a Libby, a girl in our class, had thrown. I laughed, and the next thing I knew, I was back in my hospital room, and my mom and dad were sitting on a chair next to my bed.

"Honey," my mom took my hand into hers, and smiled at me. "How are you feeling?"

I considered this question before answering, lifting my hand up to feel the bandage that was wrapped around my head. I cleared my throat, and blinked my eyes a couple of times. "I feel fine mom," I whispered, my eyes following an IV that was stuck into the fold of my arm, a pain medication by the looks of it. "But it's probably the pain medication."

My mom nodded, and my dad sat on the end of my bed. "Doctor said you might be uncomfortable for a couple of days." I nodded, and felt around the bandage for signs of hair – sighing when I found it had been put into two braids.

"They had to shave where they did the incision," my mom pointed out. "But they kept as much hair as they could, and the scar can be covered with a hat, easily." I laughed, and my mom held up a bag from the mall, I already knew that it contained the hats that Miley and I had bought before. I took the bag from where it was placed and took out a knitted purple and green stripped hat.

"When do I get the bandage off?" I asked my mom, as I placed the hat on my head.

"In a couple of days," my mom told me, as my dad went outside to get some coffee for my mom and him. "Then you can get the stitches out in a couple of weeks." I nodded, half listening as I drifted in and out of semi consciousness.

"And Miley and Oliver's performance?" I asked, remembering my plans with my regular nurse. "Am I allowed to go to that? When is it?"

My mom laughed and checked the small calendar in her purse, "Lets see Lil," she put her glasses on and turned the pages until my mom got to the right date. "Miley and Oliver perform on Wednesday morning of next week, which will give us enough time to get back to the hospital for radiation, which you start on Friday of this week." I nodded.

"How many times a week is radiation?" I asked with curiosity.

When I asked, my mom looked up at me. "Five times a week," she sighed. "For the next six weeks." When she looked at me again, I'm pretty sure that my mouth was wide open with shock, because really I had no idea that it would take that much.

"Will it hurt mom?" I asked, suddenly more scared of the thought of the treatments than them themselves. "Will I be okay?"


	20. Another Thin Line

My mom put her calendar back into her bag and sat down on the bed, not too far down, so that she was still holding my hand. She gave me a weak smile, and sighed, "Cancer is never an easy battle," my mom told me, I was almost worried about what was coming next. "Radiation shouldn't be that bad, but the procedures could leave you nauseous, swollen, coughing, tired, and you could end up with a lot of fevers. But there are ways to stop that." I nodded, "It's going to be alright." She rubbed my hand with her fingers and brought her legs up into Indian style.

"I know," I whispered, not completely believing myself. "It's just going to take a long time to get used to this." I sighed, and my mind wandered to why my dad was taking so long to get two cups of coffee.

**Robbie Ray's POV:**

I was serving breakfast to Miley the zombie when the phone rang in the kitchen. I made sure to check on whether Miley was okay before I answered the phone.

"Hello Stewart residence," I answered, watching Miley intently as she slowly ate her soggy cereal.

I heard someone clear their throat on the other side of the phone, and then a familiar voice spoke, "Hey Robbie Ray," Lily's dad replied. "Lily's out of surgery and just thought you and Miley wanted to know."

I switched the phone to my other ear and covered my mouth and the receiver with my hand, "is everything alright?"

When I asked that I heard silence for what felt for the longest time, and I knew someone was up. "The MRI showed that the cancer spread," Mr. Truscott whispered in a raspy voice. "It's spreading in her brain, and – and the doctor says there might be permanent damage if they don't work on it quick enough."

I nodded my head with sympathy, and took the phone into the living room and sat down on the couch. "When did you find out Bill?"

Lily's dad sighed, "This morning." He told me. I took another look at Miley to make sure that she wasn't listening. "The doctor from the office called when we went home to drop off Blake."

"I'm so sorry," I sighed in a whisper, trying to hold back some tears – Lily was like a daughter to me. "What are the doctors going to do about it?"

"We're looking at radiation 5 times a week," Mr. Truscott told me. "For the next six weeks, and that's if the cancer responds." I nodded. "But rest assured that Lily will definitely be there for Miley and Oliver on Wednesday, she'll do radiation in the afternoon and then Lily's free to hang out until 8 pm."

"Can we take her out for dinner before we take her back to the hospital?" I asked, watching Miley walk up the stairs to her bedroom.

"Fine by me," Lily's dad sounded as if he'd smiled. "You've been so good to her Robbie, thank you so much. I don't know what we would do without you and your wonderful family."

"Thank you," I smiled. "It's been great having your family as well. The girls are almost inseparable when they're together."

"Almost?" Mr. Truscott laughed. "They are inseparable when those two are together. I need a crowbar when I come to pick up Lily from your house."

I laughed at this, knowing it to be perfectly true, "and I need the strength of a thousand men."

We laughed again, and I could hear the intercom go off in the distance of the hospital from my end of the phone. "I've got to go now Robbie," Mr. Truscott told me, laughter still evident in his voice. "I'll talk to you later." I nodded and said goodbye before I heard the click of his phone. Then I stared at our portable for a while until I hung up our line, and headed up to Miley's room to get her ready for school. But when I walked in, Miley had her covers over her head, and showed no signs of planning to get dressed.

"Miley honey," I shook her softly. "Are you planning on going to school or not?" Miley shook her head from under the covers and said nothing else. "Don't you have to practice for the play?" Miley shook her head again. "So you're going to disappoint Oliver?" I asked, but Miley stayed silent. "Has Oliver been going to school?" Miley shook her head, and lifted the covers so that I could half of her face.

"Neither of us want to do the play anymore," Miley looked down at the hem of her duvet. "We feel guilty that we're having a good time when Lily's stuck in the hospital." I nodded my head, and waited for Miley to continue. "And to be honest, it's really not that fun without her."

"Couldn't you try and have fun?" I asked Miley. "Wouldn't that be what Lily wanted?"

Miley nodded her head, turning over to her other side so that she wasn't facing me. "She's coming to the performance on Wednesday, right?"

I nodded my head, and put my hand over Miley's shoulder and dragged her back towards the bed so that she was facing me again. "And we're taking her out for dinner later on," Miley smiled. "Now are you going to school today or not?"

Miley looked at the ceiling before she answered, "Could I go see Lily first?"

I nodded, and got up from the bed, as Miley did the same in attempt to get dressed as quickly as she could. "I'll call you into school late," I told Miley when I reached the doorway that attached her room to the hallway. "Say about 12o'clock?" Miley nodded.

So I went downstairs to call the school, and Mr. and Mrs. Oken to see if Oliver would like to come as well. And when all that was settled, Oliver was getting ready as I waited for Miley; I got ready to get into the car in a rush, because I knew that was what Miley was going to be like.

And sure enough, Miley ran down the stairs, taking three at a time, and wearing a completely uncoordinated outfit, that contained two different coloured knee socks, a jean skirt and purple tank top. "You might want to change…" I started, as Miley walked by me, but didn't finish when Miley went out the door and I could hear the car down slam shut.


	21. Losing Grip

"Alright Miley," I said as I opened the door to our car and got in. "You got your school books and everything?" She nodded, and put her seatbelt over herself as I turned on the car. By the time we'd made it to the highway, Miley had turned on music, and had started looking out the window as cars went by us. I sighed at the sight, and kept my eyes on the road until we got to Oliver's house.

"Do you want to get him?" I asked Miley, "Or should I?"

Miley looked at me once, and turned to open the door. Then she ran outside and up the steps to the front doors of Oliver's house, knocking furiously until someone came out. Before both Oliver and Miley came back to the car, I waved to Oliver's parents who were standing on the front deck holding Oliver's backpack and bagged lunch – which Oliver grabbed when he and Miley ran out of the house.

"Thank you Mr. Stewart," Oliver said as he climbed into the back on the car with Miley in his tow. "For picking me up and stuff." I nodded my head, and waited until Oliver and Miley had their door shut before I turned the car back on, and headed towards the highway again.

Behind me, the kids were quietly sighing to themselves or humming, in Oliver's case. I smiled at the both of them through my rear view mirror, but neither or them saw until they noticed that I'd missed the exit for Century City Hospital.

"Mr. S!" Oliver had yelled to me from the back, "You just missed the exit for the hospital!"

I nodded my head and looked for a way off of the highway and back to the exit that I was supposed to be getting off of. "Gosh daddy," Miley smiled. "You would have driven us to Nevada if Oliver hadn't told you."

I laughed out loud, and nodded my head again before finding the real exit and quickly making my way to the emergency room entrance as the clock struck 9.

When I found the entrance, I let Oliver and Miley out so that I could find a parking space without them being anxious to get in. They ran towards the sliding doors and made no sign of slowing down when they reached the front desk. I laughed at them both, and moved the car to an empty space a couple feet from the entrance. And when I got to the front desk, Miley and Oliver were still there trying to convince the nurse to give them information on Lily Truscott.

I smiled, and came up behind Oliver, tapping the desk with my hand, "I promise you ma'am," I told the nurse behind the counter. "Mr and Mrs. Truscott would want Miley and Oliver to see Lily."

The nurse stared at me for a while, and then wheeled her chair over to the computer on the other side of her desk. "I'll check and see," she told me as she picked up a phone near to the computer.

Then as the nurse talked I got Miley and Oliver to go sit on the grey chairs in the corner of the room.

"Sir, could you tell me your name please?" The nurse asked, now that she was off of the phone and sitting at the computer.

"Robbie Stewart," I told her, and she typed it into the computer and nodded her head.

When she finished, the nurse turned to me again, "and your kids names?"

"Miley and Oliver," I told the nurse, not bothering to tell her that Oliver wasn't my kid. "Now can we go in and see Lily?"

The nurse nodded, and handed me a slip of paper with Lily's room number highlighted. I thanked her, and went to where Miley and Oliver were sitting, and we walked together towards the elevator. I pressed the button for the fifth floor, and we were silent for the rest of the way. Which is how I noticed how Miley wringed her hands as a nervous habit. And how when Miley did this Oliver had given her a look of reassurance.

"Are you guys ready?" I asked once the elevator door had opened. Miley and Oliver nodded and I lead them out into the hallway towards where the nurse told me Lily's room was. Miley and Oliver, I noticed, walked slower than usual so that it would take them forever to reach the door. So that when we did, visiting hours were almost over.

"We better go in," I told Miley and Oliver, who were standing in front of the door of Lily's room. Miley looked at me, and I nodded encouragingly.

"Come on Oliver," she whispered to him as he stayed behind when she opened the door. "We've got to see Lily before we go off to school." Oliver nodded, and he followed Miley into the room, with me close behind them.

And to be frank, I was almost shocked at the state that Lily was in. Although Miley and Oliver didn't know Lily had just been through a major surgery, to me it was hard to miss. Underneath a purple and green stripped hat, I could see the edge of a white bandage wrapped around her head, and the IV that was stuck into her arm was for pain, but only when the pain was excruciating. Thankfully, Miley and Oliver didn't notice this, because I was sure that Lily didn't want to tell them yet, and they peacefully sat on the end of the bed near Lily's feet.

"Hey Lily," Oliver smiled at her, and Lily gave a weak nod towards him. "How are you doing?"

When asked this, Lily looked down at her sheets, and mumbled, "I'm fine." Lily forced a smile, and closed her eyes before looking back up at Miley and Oliver, "But obviously not enough for the doctors to let me out of here."

Oliver cracked a smile, and Miley started to wring her hands again, "Do you know when you'll get out?" Miley asked, anxious, of course, to have her friend home again.

Lily shook her head, even though I knew that Lily was told by her parents that her hospital stay would be for three weeks. "I just want to get back to school, and hanging out with my friends."

Miley nodded, and looked back at me when Lily looked down at her sheets again. I shrugged my shoulders and raised my eyebrows, and turned around to face the waiting room where I was about to sit next to Mr and Mrs. Truscott. Now noticing their current condition, I decided that it would be best if I walked up to them slowly and didn't engage in too much conversation.

"Hey Bill," I nodded towards Lily's dad, "Hey Martha." Her mother waved weakly.

"How are Miley and Oliver taking it?" Mr. Truscott asked, nodding towards the room where I had left them.

"Okay, considering," I told him. Completely avoiding the many things I could tell him about Miley and Oliver mopping around the house, because I knew that Lily's parents were worse off, "Seeing as they don't know anything."

Lily's dad nodded, rubbing his wife's back with his other hand as we talked, "I keep telling Lily that she'll have to tell them eventually." He told me, shrugging his shoulders, and messing up his hair with his free hand, "it's just going to add on the stress." I nodded, "Stress is not something she needs right now. And I just wish that Lily could go back to school, and have sleepovers with Miley and go to the beach."

"When will Lily be able to do these things?" I asked, hoping that the three week line was just an estimate.

Mr. Truscott seemed to consider my answer as he buried his head into his hands. "School she can start in another week," he sighed. "But she'll have to have a full time nurse with her at home. And then, Lily can start sleepovers again once she gets stronger and healthier. But the beach might never happen, or at least not while she's got the tumour." I nodded my head again.

"It's tough," I told him, offering the coffee that I hadn't touched to him. "But you've got me and my family to help you all along."

Lily's dad gave me a half of a smile, and turned to Lily's mom. "Would you mind," Mr. Truscott turned back to me. "Would you mind staying at the hospital while Martha and I go home to rest and get ourselves together?"

I nodded my head, "of course." I told Mr. Truscott, "Take your time."

He smiled again, and got up from his seat with Mrs. Truscott behind him as they hugged me and then walked into Lily's room to say goodbye. I sighed, and waved goodbye to them as they walked towards the elevator. I didn't have any idea how long they were going to be, but considering the bags under their eyes, and the wrinkle of their clothes – I figured I'd give them until tonight to get themselves together.

Once they were gone, I took a seat and watched the door of Lily's room. From where I was sitting I could hear selected words of what Miley, Oliver and Lily were talking about, though it sounded as if Miley and Oliver were doing all the talking. And I smiled when I heard Miley talking about the performance they would be doing on Wednesday, which meant her and Oliver would be doing the play.


	22. Getting It Back Together

**Miley's POV:**

Oliver and I got into school just as the bell for lunch rung, 12:20 – twenty minutes late, but that had been because my dad had to stay with Lily and call for a ride. So before we could run off to lunch with everyone else, Oliver and I had to check in with the nurse, who my dad had called this morning before we left for the hospital.

"Good morning Miley," the nurse smiled as she spoke with her southern drawl. She too had moved here from the south. "Good morning Oliver, what can I do for ya'll?"

I shoved Oliver forward, "We were called in late by Mr. Stewart this morning." Oliver told her with a smile, "We just need to check back into school."

The nurse nodded, and placed a brown clipboard in front of us so that we could sign our names. "And how is Lily?" She asked. I looked at Oliver in surprise, "She still in the hospital?" I nodded, unable to say anything else, though Oliver didn't seem to be in the same situation.

"For about another week or two," he nodded. "They've got to pump some antibiotics into her."

The nurse smiled and took the clipboard from where she had placed it, after we'd signed our names. "What happened to her?" She asked curiously, and because Oliver didn't know the answer, both he and the nurse turned to me.

I shrugged my shoulders, and looked at one of the posters on the farthest wall. Even though, I knew exactly what happened that night, I was sure I didn't know all of the details that my dad did. "Lily has a weak immune system," I told them. "She caught the cold, and ta-da, she landed in the hospital."

"Oh the poor dear," The nurse smiled sadly, and wrote a pass for Oliver and I, now that lunch had ended. Then she looked up at us with searching eyes, "Are you two okay?"

I shrugged, and looked at the farthest poster again to avoid the question. And so when Oliver noticed this, he gripped my shoulder with his hand, and smiled at the nurse, "We're dealing." Oliver told her, getting the pass from the nurse – who gave one last wave as we walked out of the door.

"Alright," Oliver sighed once we'd walked through the doors and into the empty hallway, as the bell rung again. I looked at the pass in his hand and we walked through the halls in the art wing. "It looks like we've got some catching up to do in Theatre if we're going to put a good show on for Lily." I nodded, and Oliver stopped me with both his hands on my shoulders before we walked through the door for theatre class. "Are you going to be alright Miley?"

I nodded and took a deep breath before I came up with an answer for Oliver, "I'm fine." I told him truthfully. "It's just hard seeing Lily attached to all of those machines."

"I know it's hard sometimes," Oliver told me, moving my head with his hand so that I was looking up at him instead of at the ground, "But look how much better Lily was today."

I raised an eyebrow and tried to compare the difference, but to me Lily looked the same – sick. "I guess your right," I told Oliver. Because I definitely believed him, I trusted Oliver to tell me the truth. "Now we've got to put on a great show for her," I smiled slightly and thanked Oliver for the encouragement, and together we walked into the classroom.

"Miley, Oliver," the teacher, Ms. Lunos, smiled at us as we walked in. Oliver handed her the yellow pass we'd gotten from the nurse, "Thank you. We're continuing to learn our lines if you two want to get together and practice."

Oliver and I nodded and took our seats together at the very corner of the room so that no one would be able to bother us. For a while we went over our lines, though we knew that we'd already memorized those ages ago. And then the conversation drifted off subject again.

"Do you think we can get a ride to the hospital this afternoon?" Oliver asked me after we'd both been silent and had started listening to everyone else learn their lines. "I'd get my mom or dad to, but they're both working until late tonight."

I nodded, considering what I was going to do, and thought back to what my dad and I had been talking about over the past few days. "I have a Hannah Montana appearance to make tonight," I whispered back, making sure that no one around me could hear what I was saying, "I could rearrange that if you want."

Oliver shook his head, and leaned forward so that he was closer to me, "I wouldn't want to disappoint any of those Hannah Montana fans."

"Will you join me Owen?" I asked even quieter, now that the room had started to make less noise. Oliver nodded, and for a short while when all was quiet, we went back to our lines and making sure we knew what queues each of us had. "Alright," I announced, putting down my script and leaning back in the chair. "I think I've got this down."


	23. Choose

**Robbie Ray's POV:**

Soon after the Miley and Oliver left with their ride, I snuck into Lily's room to talk to her a little bit, only to find her only half conscious. Yet, I still took a chair and brought it to the side of bed.

"Hey Lily," I smiled, touching the flowers on her bedside table. Lily showed no sign of response, except for a small groan, "I'm supposed to stay here until your mom and dad come back."

"They went home?" Lily whispered hoarsely, turning a little so that she was facing me. From that angle I could see that she was weak and pale.

I nodded, and moved in closer so that my head was leaning on my hands while my elbows rested on the edge of the bed. "They went to clean up a little bit," I told Lily. "I'd give them until tonight it I was you; they looked pretty out of it." Lily laughed quietly and turned back on her back, her eyelids drooping a couple times. "I'll let you sleep," I whispered as Lily closed her eyes completely. Then I took a seat in the softer looking chair in the corner of Lily's hospital room, and found an interesting magazine to read. And as I was just getting into another article, a doctor came in with a tray of new bandages to replace the dirtier ones.

"She's asleep," I told the doctor, who by now could tell this already from where he was standing. The doctor nodded at me.

"Do you think you could help me wrap the new bandage without waking her up?" He asked, quietly again as we heard Lily snore a little, "It'll be quick." I nodded and walked up next to the doctor at Lily's bed side. I was instructed to lift Lily up so that the doctor could reach, and as I did so the doctor took off her hat. Now I could the entire bandage that covered the bottom half of her head, and there was a little blood coming from one spot above her neck. And then I came to find that that had not been the beginning – as the doctor unravelled more, so that I could see a large piece of gauze covered with medical tape, I realized that the blood had been coming from that patch of gauze. I felt queasy at the sight, and tried to look away as the doctor started to take off the only thing that was hiding Lily's stitches. Immediately afterwards I tried looking at the ground – but I was curious, and by accident, looked up to come face to face with what I had feared. The bottom half of Lily's blond hair was shaved so that they could make the incisions that the doctors had sown up with a purple string, making Lily's head look even worse. Between Lily's neck and the incision there was some swelling, though it looked as if it were going down.

"Is it supposed to look like that?" I asked the doctor, after I'd taken in the image enough to look back down at the floor, "It looks pretty bad to me."

The doctor nodded, and from what I could see he continued to reapply clean bandages and medical tape to Lily's head. "After the stitches are out it should be a lot better," he told me, and I was satisfied with what he told me. Though, I still kept my head down until I was absolutely sure that the doctor was done and that Lily's incision had been completely covered.

"Alright," the doctor smiled, clapping his hands together, and allowing me to lower Lily, who was surprisingly still asleep, back to the bed. "I've just got to get a nurse for some medication for Lily and then I can leave you two alone." I nodded, and looked down at Lily – realizing then that the doctor hadn't put her hat back on. And so I figured that, since Miley and Oliver were probably going to come and visit later on, that I would have to put it on again myself.

"There we go Lily," I whispered as I; once again, put her head down on the pillow. I smiled at her innocent sleeping face, and walked over to the other side of the room so that I could pick up the magazine I'd been reading and continue on that article.

But before I could even reach the seat I heard Lily groan, "Mr. S?" I nodded, and brought the chair I was closest to towards Lily's bed. "What are you doing here?" Lily's voice was raspy and tired, and I could tell that she was struggling to get out each word.

"Your mom and dad went home for the day," I told her, knitting my eyebrows together. "Don't you remember me telling you earlier?" Lily shook her head and shrugged her mouth to the side. "Do you remember Miley and Oliver coming to see you?"

This time Lily seemed to consider the question before answering, like she wasn't sure. "Sort of," Lily told me, itching her head as she said it. "Could you tell me what time it is please?"

I looked at my watch as it struck the hour, "1:00 exactly." I told Lily who nodded almost as if in approval.

"Are Miley and Oliver visiting after school?" Lily asked curiously, turning her head to the side so that she could see me. I nodded my head, "good. I can't wait to see them."

"I agree," I smiled, but could see in the back of my mind, the huge scar. "The doctor should be coming with some medicine…." I tried to change the subject, just as a nurse came into the room.

"Good afternoon Lily," the nurse smiled at her, and got Lily to sit up with a cup of water in her hand. "Take these, and then I'll get out of your way." Lily nodded her head, and without question she swallowed the pills down and gave the cup back to the nurse, who left the room promptly afterwards.

"So Mr. S," Lily laughed once the nurse had left the room completely. Lily was still sitting up in her bed, and curiously reading a card that had been placed on her bedside table. "Do you want to play a game?"

I squinted one eye and raised the other eyebrow, looking at Lily's smile and trying to decipher what she was getting at. "What kind of game Lily?"

Lily shrugged her shoulders and put the card down to its original position. "I dunno," she pursed her lips in thought. "Have you ever played choose?"

I shook my head, "How do you play it?"

"It's simple really," Lily told me. "All you have to do is choose between two bad situations, or two good. For example, choose: getting stuck in an ice storm, or stuck in a draught?"

I thought about this, and finally got the point of the game. "I'd pick ice storm," I told Lily who nodded her head in agreement. "Okay, so choose: big purple dots all over you body, or antennas?"

"How big at the antennas?" Lily asked, turning around in her bed so that she was sitting cross legged in front of me. I shrugged, "I mean – are they short or are they tall?"

"Medium," I teased.

"Then I pick antennas," Lily said crossing her arms across her chest, and almost catching her IV on the way. I almost reached out to help her, but I think Lily figured it out of her own and went back to putting her hands at her side. "Choose: Stuck in a basement with twenty of Miley's friends, or with twenty people randomly picked?"

I laughed, and sat back in my chair with my arms around the back. "Would I be allowed to bring ear plugs?" Lily shook her head, "What about duck tape?" Lily shook her head again, "Then I would have to pick twenty random people."

Lily laughed wildly, and nodded her head. And for a while we continued to play the game of choose – that I was actually starting to get good at. Lily and I took turns making up chooses, and each time they would get more and more ridiculous – to the point where we were laughing too hard to speak. And proving the point that time does fly when you're having fun, when I looked at my watch, it was already almost time for Miley and Oliver to get home from school.


	24. Authors Note

Alright guys,

Much apology for not posting immediately. I'm in Cape Cod with my family, and my half sister has been forcing me into things that I've not wanted to do. She thinks, I "have no life, and I need to get off of my computer." But she just doesn't know what she's missing. Anyway, tomorrow is supposed to be a rainy day and I should get some free time, seeing as the only thing to do around here is bike and swimming – which are usually associated with good weather.

Oh, and also, I'm having a tough time coming up with one thing: and that's … what's Miley and Oliver's play? The only play I can think about is Shakespeare, and of course, that's already been done on Hannah Montana. But I also need an idea or two, or an opinion, on how Miley and Oliver should find out – if they do, in fact, find out. I've got some ideas, but I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to use them both!

Rosie


	25. Our Lips Are Sealed

**Lily's POV:**

"Should we start another game?" I asked Mr. Stewart, who had started to calm down since our last giggle fit, and have time to look at his watch. "Or should we wait until Miley and Oliver get here?"

Miley's dad shrugged, and leaned back in his chair. "I'd wait until they came," he sighed with a laugh just as another doctor came in to check on me quickly. When the doctor was gone, Mr. Stewart added, "We wouldn't want them to miss out on all of the fun."

I nodded my head, and sat back in my bed – playing with the two loose hospital bracelets on my wrist, I shrugged off the fact that I'd probably lost some weight. "How long are Miley and Oliver allowed to stay?" I asked Mr. Stewart who was looking at his watch again.

"Only about an hour Lily," he told me. "They've got homework to catch up on and a project to rehearse." I nodded my head understandingly, and realized what I missed and couldn't have. But I knew that I was stuck in the hospital for another two weeks.

Mr. Stewart and I were quiet for another moment before one of us talked. It had been unusual, because we had been joking around since my parents left this morning.

"How are Miley and Oliver going to get here?" I asked Miley's dad, coming up with my own ways of transportation in my mind.

"Oliver's dad is going to get them from school and bring them here," He smiled, once again leaning his elbows on my bed making that side sink down a little more. "And then he's going to pick them up and they're going to work on the project at Oliver's house."

"Are you going to tell me what the play is about?" I asked, teasing him, because I knew that it was supposed to be a surprise. When Mr. Stewart didn't answer, I leaned my head onto his, so that our foreheads were touching, and asked him again, with a large smile on my face.

Mr. Stewart kissed the top of my head, like he would Miley or Jackson, and sat up straight in his chair as Miley ran in through the door. "I couldn't tell you if I wanted," he laughed, as Miley looked at her father questioningly and Oliver came behind her.

When Mr. Stewart didn't answer Miley's look, but rather lifted his eyebrows and shrugged, both turned to me. "Lily, Lily, Lily," Miley yelled, being careful as she hugged me and sat on the end of my bed. "I can't wait until you see our play!"

I smiled and said nothing, "We've been practicing like crazy," Oliver told me, sitting next to Miley on the bed. Both of my friends looked around kind of nervously at the machines and IV lines attached to me, "Miley memorized her lines in one class!" Oliver said, coming out of his trance, but his voice was still shaky.

"I'd be a little more excited," I laughed. "If you told me what play you guys were doing."

Miley looked at Oliver then, like she was asking him if she could tell, but when he shook his head Miley shook hers as well, and smiled at me. "I wish we could," Miley said sympathetically. "But Oliver – and I, want it to be a surprise."

I shrugged my shoulders, and rolled my eyes, "I'm guessing it was Oliver's idea?" I asked, "To keep it a secret?" Miley nodded, and I knew she would – because she hated keeping secrets, and I laughed, shaking my finger at Oliver. "Poor Miley, having to keep this all to herself," I smiled sneakily. "If only she could tell someone, but who is there to tell?"

Miley opened her mouth to say something, but quickly Oliver leaned forward and slapped his hand across her mouth. "Don't you dare," Oliver said, saying each word as if there were a period in-between. "You know what we said, you cannot tell anyone, anything until the day of the performance." Miley nodded, and Oliver let go of her.

"Does your dad even know?" I asked Miley, as I turned to her dad, who was still sitting in his chair. All three shook their head simultaneously, "Wow, I'm surprised you guys. You're really trying to keep this a secret."

"I know," Miley pretended to cry. "It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do," She stopped, looked up and seemed to consider something. "Well, unless you count the fact that I kept my secret identity from you guys."

"Not for long," Mr. Stewart piped in. "I think Lily found out quicker than others."

I nodded my head and smiled at both of my friends. Miley was agreeing with her dad as well, just as Mr. Oken came into the room.

"Afternoon kids," He waved, holding a cup of coffee out for Mr. Stewart. "I've come to get the ones named Miley and Oliver."

Miley and Oliver looked at each other, and then at the clock on the wall. "It's already time dad?" Oliver asked in disbelief, tapping his watch in attempt to get the right time. "Can't we stay a little longer?"

Mr. Oken shook his head, and got Miley and Oliver up from their seats, "I've got some errands to run," Mr. Oken told them, "And then you two have to get your homework done."

Miley and Oliver groaned at the thought of homework, but both walked out the door like they were told. "Everything alright here?" He asked Mr. Stewart, I was unaware of whether Mr. Oken knew about my brain tumour as well. "Does Miley need to sleep over tonight, or should I drop her back off her when they're done?"

"Could you keep her for a night or two?" Miley's dad asked. Receiving a nod, and wave and Mr. Oken went completely out the door. "I figure your parents might take a long time," he told me, and settled back into his seat as I tried to fall asleep again, unsuccessfully.


	26. Spinning Around

**Robbie Ray's POV:**

As I watched Lily turn over to her other side, I decided that now I was tired, and needed a cup of coffee. So I thought about leaving a note, in case Lily woke up and wondered where I was, but I didn't have the pencil and paper that I needed. Instead, I lightly tapped Lily on her shoulder. "I'll be right back," I whispered to her. "I'm just going to get some coffee, do you want anything?"

Lily shook her head sleepily, and turned onto her back again so that she was facing me. I smiled at her, and pulled one of the braids sticking out of her hat – wondering if she was too warm in wool.

I waved goodbye to her before heading out of the door, and made sure that Lily's eyes closed before I headed towards the cafeteria, which was located three floors down from where Lily's room was. So I took an elevator, that took forever to come, and waiting with a bunch of nurses and doctors until we reached the floor I was looking for. But, of course, like any hospital, the smell of the food was neither appetizing nor did it seem edible. I settled for the coffee machine in the back, hoping that it would produce coffee that I might actually like, and then I found a muffin that didn't look too bad, before I quickly went back to the elevator again and sat back down on my chair in Lily's room.

When I got there, I found Lily asleep. So I tiptoed in as I tried to make no sound, and picked up the closest magazine for me to look at. Unfortunately for me, the magazine was for kids in preschool, so I figured Blake had picked it up. Without any more options, I looked around Lily's room, at the yellow polka dotted wallpaper that covered all of the walls, and was starting to fade. And then out of the large wall to floor window that took up the space across from Lily's bed, but all you could see from there was the interstate with all the cars and traffic, and couple unfortunate houses that lived nearby. Then, the only thing left to look at was Lily and all of the machines that they had her hooked up to. There was a heart monitor that had been there since the incident that happened almost a week ago. And then, there was the two IV's she was hooked up to, that made it seem like it would be hard to move around of the bed – which it probably was.

Lily herself seemed almost lifeless when she was asleep. It was bad enough that she was in the hospital, but because of everything that's been going on she'd lost noticeable weight, and sometimes I thought that if you looked close enough, Lily was still as pale as when we'd brought her here.

"Mr. Stewart?" Lily whispered only seconds after I'd stopped looking at her, I noticed first thing that her breathing was starting to shallow again. I immediately put my hand against her forehead to check her temperature, "I don't feel so well."

I nodded my head, and pressed the button for Lily's doctor to come check on her. He came almost immediately, and I was send out of the room. In worry I paced the waiting room until a doctor came out and I could demand answers about what was happening.

"It should be alright," a doctor told me only half an hour after he'd entered Lily's room, giving me a pat on the shoulder. "The infections fighting back and Lily's white blood cells are too low to do anything about it."

I nodded my head, knowing, this time, what the doctor was talking about. "Will be okay though?"

The doctor, who was not Lily's regular, looked towards the room he'd just come out of and watched three other nurses and doctors exit. "We have to move her first radiation session to Tuesday instead of Friday."


	27. The time after That Time

I sighed and listened to the doctor explain more about Lily's condition, but the only thing I wanted to do at that moment was to go back to her room. So I tried my best to pretend I knew what the doctor was talking about, and nodded when appropriate.

"Can I see her now?" I asked once he stopped talking. I was anxious, no doubt about it, and I wasn't going to hide it.

"Of course," the doctor smiled and led me towards her room as we walked along side each other. "Lily will be alright, but I think she better not have too many visitors for now – we've got to keep her isolated and under watch for a couple of days." I nodded my head, and prepared myself for the sight I was about to see.

Lily was laying there like she had been when I called for a doctor, but now she had fallen asleep again, and had a life support tube running up her nose. There was a metal clip on the end of Lily's left index finger to keep track or her heart rate, and a second IV was running down her arm.

In another attempt not to wake Lily up, I tiptoed up to the table across the room and picked up another magazine to read while I was waiting. Unknowingly, I read an article about brain tumours – though, instead of actually reading it, I was scanning and constantly looking over to Lily to see if she was okay.

Without Lily to talk to I found myself worrying, what happens when Lily starts getting treatments? By then will Lily find the courage she needs to tell Oliver and Miley? I sighed, and cleared my mind by taking a short walk up and down the hall outside of Lily's hospital room.

"Mr. Stewart?" I heard a nurse come up behind me as I walked down the corridor again. Without looking behind me I stopped and allowed her to catch up. "Are you alright? Do you need anything?" I shook my head, and turned around to face the nurse – who now I could identify as Lily's day nurse, Ms. Jaccobs. "Is Lily alright? I heard she had a few doctors visit her just about an hour ago."

"Lily's white blood cell count is down," I whispered to the nurse. She placed her hand on my shoulder, and I looked down at the ground. "She had an infection and now they're isolating her for a couple days to keep a good eye on her."

The nurse nodded like she understood, "Lily will be fine." She reassured me, "She's a strong one." I nodded. She reassured me, "She's a strong one." I nodded.

"I should get back to the room," I said after some silence. "Just to make sure Lily's not awake."

The nurse nodded letting me go, and turned around to walk away, "I'll be back with Lily's dinner if you want to wake her up for me." She smiled, and disappeared around the corner.

When I walked back into Lily's room she was still asleep, and I really didn't want to wake up someone that looked so innocent. But I knew that if I didn't, then the nurse would do it anyway, and I might as well give Lily sometime to fully wake up before she has to eat.

I walked quietly over to Lily's bed, and sat down on the edge where Lily's legs were not lying. "Lily?" I shook her gently, but she didn't stir. "Lily? Come on, you have to wake up now." This time, I got a mumble, and Lily attempted to turn to her other side before getting caught in her IV. "Dinners coming your way, don't you want dinner?"

Lily turned back to me, and opened one eye with her eyebrow raised. Her face was still sleepy, but she could still give a heck of a look. "Have you ever tried the food around here Mr. S?" She asked, yawning. "They might as well give me Blake's plastic food."

I managed a laugh, and shook my head, "I've never been admitted to the hospital." I told her, getting her to sit up while I did. "But by the sounds of your medical records I would think you were used to the food by now."

"Nah," Lily shrugged her shoulders, and pulled the table that was attached to the side of her bed, over her knees. "When I was little I always got my parents to get me food from the restaurant across the street." I laughed, and peeked out of the window at the McDonalds across the street. Lily shrugged, "I used to like the taste of their chicken nuggets when I was sick – but the thought of it now makes me want to throw up."

I nodded my head, knowing that feeling. "Do you want me to get you anything from somewhere else?"

Lily shrugged her shoulders again, and leaned her head on the wall behind her. "I'm not really that hungry," she told me. "I think I'll just eat the dinner roll and juice they give me."


	28. Lost and Found

**Oliver's POV:**

"Seriously," Miley laughed, taking the popcorn my dad popped from the kitchen counter and sitting on the chair. "I think we've done enough practicing for today."

I nodded my head, we'd been practicing for the past two hours and it wasn't like we couldn't get any better, "So we'll give it a break." I told Miley, and grabbed some popcorn from the bowl, "But just for now."

Miley laughed again, but this time she threw her handful of popcorn at my face. "We're done for today," she giggled, "and that's final."

"Alright, alright," I held my hands up as a peace offering, and we both went back to our popcorn in silence. Which, although I've been avoiding the mental image all day, led me to thinking about Lily in the hospital – and looking over to my left where Miley was sitting, I was sure that was what she was thinking about that as well. I sighed, and leaned back on my chair, trying to think of something different – like concentrating on the play, and looking forward to dinner on Wednesday.

"Well," my dad walked into the kitchen with his glasses and newspaper in his hand. "This is a first – are you two okay?" We nodded, and I looked away from my dad's doubtful look. All three of us were silent for a couple of minutes, and then my dad cleared his throat, "Uh, Miley, your dad wants you to stay here for the night, so I'll make up the guest bedroom and then we'll drive down to your house to get you some clothes - does that sound good?"

Miley nodded half consciously, and then snapped back. "Wait," she asked confused. "Why would my dad want me to stay here? Is everything alright?"

My dad nodded again, and placed the newspaper down on the counter in front of us, "He's going to stay with Lily tonight while her parents are home taking care of things."

"What about Jackson?" Miley asked, I could tell she was getting worried now.

"Jackson's staying at Cooper's house last I heard," my dad said, picking the newspaper back up, and walking upstairs to get the guest room ready.

Miley looked at me with a slight smile, but I could tell she was distant about something. I myself, was wondering what was happening at the hospital. It had been a mystery to me why Lily has been held there for the past two weeks – I would think that they would've fought the infection by now. Unless there was something we didn't know.

"If you want," I sighed to Miley. "I can tell my dad that we'll walk to your house."

"But what about the highway?" Miley asked, coming out of her daze.

"I know a shortcut," I smiled, giving her my hand to help her off of the tall stool she was sitting on. "We can walk up the beach a couple blocks from here."

Miley nodded her head, and I left her by the front door as I yelled up to my dad. When I got permission, I grabbed a couple sweaters from the closet, to shield us from the breeze from the ocean, and a flashlight, and we headed out the door towards the beach.

Miley's house wasn't very far from there. We had to pass five or six houses, and then go up a flight of sandy stairs to get to her porch. All the lights in Miley's house were turned off, except for the one in the TV room that was shinning over a magazine on the coffee table. I went over to turn the light off while Miley went to get her clothes upstairs, and when I reached the table I noticed it wasn't a magazine, but a book – a white hard cover book that I had seen Mr. Stewart reading a couple days ago. Curiously, I sat down on the couch and read the title of the book, 100 Q&A about Brain Tumours. My mind searched every memory, and I came up with no reason why Miley's dad should have this, so I started to read it before Miley came down the stairs. There were red marks in sentences and circles around big paragraphs, and some pages were turned over to keep a place. The book was interesting, I read about symptoms before Miley came bounding down the stairs with her sleepover bag over her shoulder.

"Are you ready to go?" Miley asked, making her way to the couch where I was already hiding the book I had been reading, "We should get back before it gets dark."


	29. The Big Dipper

I nodded my head, and got off the couch – taking the bag from Miley's shoulder, carrying it out the door and up to the beach. But when we got there, instead of walking towards my house, Miley sat down at the waters edge, lying down on the sand with her arms spread open.

"There's the big dipper," she pointed out to me; I was still standing up at the time she said this. I looked up at the sky, and tried to find where she was pointing, but I couldn't see. "If you sit down, you'll see it better," Miley laughed, and patted the sand next to her.

"I guess we can sit down for a second," I told Miley, sighing and looking out at the horizon where you could barely see the glow of the setting sun, "But only for a second."

Miley nodded, and when I sat down, she turned her head to look at me. "I wonder what my dad and Lily are doing right now," she whispered.

"Probably sleeping," I whispered back, smiling even though Miley probably couldn't see it. I spread my hands back and behind my head, shaking off some of the sand that was already there. "Or Lily's probably chatting your dad's head off."

Miley laughed, and I could see her nodded her head. "Lily sure knows how to talk," she added. Miley was silent for a little longer and I could tell she was thinking, "I sure miss that at school."

"Me too," I whispered, sitting up and shaking the sand from my back. "But Lily will be back in no time, you just wait and see." I got up from my seat, and held out my hand for Miley to take – but she just sat there, and looked up at the sky. I smiled at the sight, and sighed before I tried to get Miley up again. "I think we should get home," I whispered. "Before my dad goes all search party on us."

Miley laughed again, and took my hand to help get herself up, and we continued to walk on the beach until we came to the exit for my street. When we got there, all the houses in my neighbourhood had their lights turned off, and it made it a lot harder for us to see in front of us. The only house with their lights on was mine, and inside I could see my dad sitting on the couch reading a magazine.

"Hey dad," I yelled as I walked into the house, even though I could see him a few feet in front of me. "We're back, and we have clothes."

"Hey Oliver, Hey Miley," my dad smiled, and I was relieved that he wasn't mad. "What took you guys so long, Mr. Stewart called and he wanted to talk to Miley but she wasn't here."

I shrugged my shoulders, and watched Miley come up next to me. "Miley decided to sit on the beach and look at the stars for twenty minutes."

Miley shook her head, and hit me square in the arm, "it was more like ten."

I shook my head back at Miley, and when I looked up at my dad he had one eyebrow raises, and a slight smile on his face. "Before I forget Miley," he said, interrupting us. "Your dad called from the hospital and wanted to talk to you, the numbers on the fridge if you want it."

Miley perked up a little when my dad said that, and ran towards the kitchen so that she slipped on a bit of wet floor. "I'm alright!" she yelled when she continued to run.

**Robbie Ray's POV:**

After dinner, half of which Lily didn't eat, Lily began to get more tired, and I figured that she would be knocked out for the night, so I turned off the lights and took the tray of food off of her bed.

"Thanks," Lily whispered as her eyelids dropped, and she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

"Your welcome," I whispered back, even though I knew she couldn't hear me anymore. "Good night Lily."

Once I'd made sure that Lily was asleep I quietly walked to my chair in the corner of the room and found a pillow to rest my head on. I was getting ready to fall asleep in the chair when I could hear the faint sound of my cell phone ringing.

"Hello?" I whispered making sure that Lily hadn't woken up. On the other end I could Miley yawning, "Maybe you should get some sleep Miley and call me in the morning."

"No dad," She persisted, talking louder than I had expected causing me to pull the cell phone away from my ear. "I just want to talk," Miley said calmly. "How's Lily?"

I looked over at Lily's bed, and listened to Lily breathing through the life support – making it sound twice as loud. "She's doing fine Miley," I whispered in response. "Lily's just fallen asleep, and I think you should do the same." Miley was silent on the other end, so I added, "Tomorrow's Saturday, get some sleep and then tomorrow you and Oliver can come down to the hospital and see Lily."

"Alright daddy," Miley sighed, and I could hear Oliver talking to her in the background. "I'll see you in the morning, goodnight dad!"

"Good night bud," I added, and hung up the phone, which I turned off and placed on the other side of the table in front of my chair. Then I got comfortable again, and adjusted the pillow behind my head so I could try and fall asleep.


	30. The Early Bird Gets Breakfast

But next thing I knew, five minutes later I was awake and trying to find a new spot to be comfortable in. The chair was definitely not the best place to sleep, and obviously I wouldn't get enough if I didn't find anywhere else, I looked around the room and eventually I came up with the floor. So I grabbed a blanket that was folded up in the other corner of the room, and the pillow I had been using before, and fell asleep in the first place I could find.

The next morning I woke up with the sun, which didn't make me a very happy person, but once I was awake I couldn't get back to sleep again. So I pulled myself and my thin blanket to the chair I was sitting in before, and looked over at Lily's bed. Surprisingly enough, Lily was awake and already reading, a book that Miley and Oliver had brought over with Lily's school work.

"Good Morning Mr. S," Lily smiled, and put down the book on her bedside table. She adjusted her hat, which had half fallen off while she was leaning on the wall, and smiled at me. "I never thought you were an early riser."

"Neither did I," I yawned, punching my hands into the sky, and smiled back at Lily. "But I can say the same thing about you."

Lily looked at the clock on her bedside table, it read 4:45, and shrugged her shoulders. "The nurses wake me up early a lot, to give me my medicine and everything," she explained, taking off her hat, and scratching her bandage. "They haven't done it for the past week; I guess I'm just used to it."

I laughed silently, "I hope you don't make a habit out of this."

"Waking up earlier would be good for you Mr. S," Lily smiled, sitting herself completely up, and putting her hat back on, which caused her to get caught in the life support tubes that ran through her nose. "I've always hated these things," Lily mumbled, adjusting the tube that had moved, and placing her hat on the table. "Do you know when I can get these off?" Lily directed the question towards me, I shrugged.

"We'll ask your doctor when everyone's awake," I told her, walking over to sit on the end of her bed. The life support tubes definitely looked uncomfortable from here. "Why do you have life support anyway?"

"Well technically it's not life support," Lily explained, forming quotations with her hands at the word life support. "The doctors like to torture you when you've had head trauma, so I guess they consider surgery for a brain tumour head trauma – even though it's not, but whatever floats Dr. Chow's boat."

"They're just trying to keep you safe," I whispered.

Lily raised her eyebrow at me, and crossed her arms over her chest. She pulled at the tube in her nose, so that it moved places again but didn't come out completely. "Alright," she sighed, "New subject." I nodded, "I'm still allowed to go to Miley and Oliver's play on Wednesday right?"

I looked at the door, looking for a doctor or nurse, and turned back to Lily. "I think so," I whispered, pulling my leg over the other and onto the bed. "But I would look forward to a wheelchair, at least."

Lily eyebrows nit together and she threw her hands in the air, "Oh! That's going to help me blend in just great!"

I laughed, "Just give them the old Lily stare." Lily nodded, and sunk into her bed again, taking the book for the side table and opening it to the page she was reading before. I sighed, picking at my shoelaces because I had nothing left to do, and hummed Hannah Montana to myself. "I'm going to get a coffee," I told Lily when she peeped over her book to give me a death stare. "I'll be right back," Lily nodded slowly, and picked up her book again as I walked out of the room. Outside the corridor was quiet with the exception of a few patients that were awake. As I walked down the hall I found only one doctor, and that doctor was working with someone else who had a huge cut in their head. I waved at a nurse who walked by just in front of the cafeteria, and went up to the empty buffet line, grabbing a blueberry muffin, some fruit and an orange juice to bring back up to Lily's room. For a moment I stopped to think about whether Lily would want anything, at our house she would always have pancakes, so I grabbed a couple chocolate chip ones and put them on a separate plate. I struggled opening the door, and pressing the buttons on the elevator, but I finally got back to Lily's room without spilling anything completely.

"I'm back," I sang quietly as I entered the room, and got another death glare from Lily who was still reading her book. "And I brought food," I teased, holding the pancakes as close to her as I could get, "For both of us."

Lily slowly moved the book from in front of her face, and looked tat the pancakes with a smile. "Alright," Lily whispered, folding the page she was on in the book, in half. "I'll have some, but I don't really get that hungry this early in the morning." I nodded, and Lily grabbed the plate from my hands. "Thanks," she whispered, holding up a fork full of pancake as cheers, I did the same but with my muffin and mouthed your welcome.

But we were not going to eat in silence, "What are we going to do today Mr. T?" Lily asked five minutes into the meal with her mouth still half full.

I looked around the room, at the cards I'd left on the table across the room, and the magazines they were sitting on top of. "I don't know Lily," I told her. "If you're parents aren't back until tonight, maybe I could take you out for a walk around the floor."

"Would the doctor approve that?" Lily asked curiously, finishing half of her pancake before putting the plate on her table and pushing it away.


	31. Quick Authors Note!

Alright guys!

Thanks so much for reading my story and reviewing! I love hearing from you guys, and I hope your enjoying reading the story as much as I am writing it!

But hey, I still need some suggestions for the play Oliver and Miley are going to put on for drama class. Your last ideas were great! But I'm still not sure how I'm going use them! Ideas, Ideas, ideas! And if you have any suggestions for anything else for the story, be free to say so!

Thanks again for reading!

3 Rosie


	32. Beyond the Room

**Lily's POV:**

"I'll be right back," Mr. Stewart told me three hours later, once we could hear noise in the halls indicating that the doctors and nurses were awake. He slipped out the door without my response, and the next thing I knew him and Dr. Chow were standing next to me in my room. "Lily, do you still want to get out of bed?"

I nodded, and looked over at Dr. Chow who was holding grip on a folded wheelchair next to him, "Are we talking outside, or inside?" Mr. Stewart and the doctor looked at each other.

"We're talking inside Lily," Dr. Chow responded in his heavy Chinese accent. But he shrugged and I could tell there was going to be another choice, one that I probably wouldn't like. "You can go outside," Dr. Chow told me, holding out a blue face mask in his other hand, and a pair of plastic gloves, "But your being watched closely now, and you can't have anymore infections."

I looked over at Miley's dad, and all he could do was shrug his shoulders. So I looked from the wheelchair to the face mask, and reached over to my nose where they'd stuck tubes yesterday. "I'll take inside," I told them both, and attempted to take the covers off of me to get up.

"Hold on Lily," Miley's dad laughed. I sat back down and Dr. Chow opened the wheelchair as Mr. S made sure that my IV's or life support tubes didn't get in the way of me getting out. Once I was on the wheelchair, with Miley's dad holding the handles, I was holding onto my IV pole to keep it with me, and the life support machine was attached to the back of the wheelchair. "Are you ready?" Mr. Stewart whispered. I nodded, and Dr. Chow opened the door for us. "Where do you want to go?" He asked me as we cruised around my floor and all the way to the elevator.

"I want to go up and down at the elevator," I replied, knowing this was probably the only place I could go and have fun. I wasn't hungry, so I didn't want to go to the cafeteria, and outside wasn't an option unless I wanted to wear those face masks. "Just a couple times," I added.

Miley's dad nodded, and he pressed the button for the elevator to open. We had to wait a couple of seconds before we could enter the elevator, but that was something every elevator had in common. But soon enough Mr. Stewart wheeled me in and he pressed all of the buttons he could before the doors shut.

"This should be interesting," He laughed when we reached the floor above where we started. "This is really how you want to spend your afternoon?"

I considered this, looking up at Miley's dad standing next to me, and I shook my head. "Elevators pop my ears," I told him, smiling, and pushing myself a little closer to the buttons. "Cafeteria ahoy," I shouted – which I could do because there was no one else in the elevator. I looked up at Mr. Stewart, "You look like you could use a coffee."

I nodded my head, and laughed at the thought that Lily could tell. I hit the button for the level on which the café was located because I knew Lily wouldn't know which one it was on, and waited for the elevator door to open. "Aren't you going to get anything?"

I shook my head, just as the elevator opened and we made our way through the double doors where new food was set out, "I'm not very hungry." I told Mr. Stewart who was wheeling me around so that he could get his coffee, and egg sandwich.

Mr. Stewart held up the sandwich to my nose, and I still shook my head, "I'm not very hungry." I repeated, looked up at Miley's dad who finally took the sandwich away from in front of me, "I had a pancake, remember?"

"I remember," He nodded, taking a sip from his coffee. He placed it down on the table closest to us, and sat down on the chair so that he was at my level. Mr. Stewart leaned his elbow on his knee and looked up at me, "but I don't think your eating enough, radiation is going to make it tougher for you and you need to get your strength up now."

"My strength's fine," I smiled at him, leaning forward to my knee as far I could. I looked down at my flannel pink and purple chequered pajamas bottoms, and picked at a loose string. "I'm a Truscott, it will be fine." Mr. Stewart nodded his head, and grabbed his coffee again. I struggled to move my wheelchair to the other end of the table where there wasn't any chair.

Miley's dad opened the tin foil wrap on the egg sandwich, and just as I reached the end of the table by myself, he held it up towards me. "Do you want a bite?" I shook my head. "Alright so maybe egg isn't your calling," he said, taking a bite for himself. "But are you sure you don't want anything else?"

"If I ask you to get me a whole wheat bagel," I laughed, leaning my elbows on the table. "Will you shut up?" He nodded, and got up to grab a bagel from the buffet line, along with a container of cream cheese, and an orange juice. "There we go," Mr. Stewart said as he put my breakfast in front of me, "Bonne appetite."

I held up my bagel, like I had when I'd gotten the pancakes earlier that morning, and began to put my cream cheese on. But every so often I would get a pounding headache that wouldn't go away very quickly, and I would have to put everything down and close my eyes. Thankfully, each time it happened, Mr. Stewart would be looking away, and next time he would look at me I was back to putting cream cheese on my bagel.

"Do you want to take that back to your room?" Miley's dad asked, I looked up and he was already done with his second breakfast of this morning. I shrugged my shoulders, I had already had enough of being out of my room, the hospital was a boring place to hang out.

"Yeah," I told him, allowing Mr. Stewart to take hold of the handles of my wheelchair and direct me out of the double doors and into the elevator. Once we got back to my room, I had to be lifted out of the chair carefully, so that my IV's didn't come out, so it took at least five minutes for Mr. Stewart alone to get me into my bed again.

"Thanks," I smiled at Mr. Stewart once he was done and was making his way to bring his own chair to the side of my bed. "Breakfast was fun," I said, laughing. "We should do it again sometime."

Miley's dad nodded, and gave me the orange juice he was holding for me. When he gave it to me, I placed both the orange juice and my half eaten bagel on the table next to my bed, and I picked up my book again. I could practically see Mr. Stewart give me a look once I did so, but I didn't care right now – and I went back to my book until Miley and Oliver were supposed to come.

When twelve o'clock came around, this was an hour after the time Mr. Stewart told me Miley and Oliver were supposed to come, they still didn't show up, and I had already finished the rest of my book so there was nothing to distract Miley's dad.

"They said twelve?" I asked again, even though I already knew the answer to the question. "What's making them so late?" Mr. Stewart shrugged his shoulders and I looked at the door just in time for Miley and Oliver to barge through.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to get through the staff here?" Miley demanded when she walked through the door. Oliver was behind her, laughing silently at how dramatic Miley was being. "They made us wait a full hour!" Miley turned around, and Oliver stopped laughing, nodding his head and making it look as if he were angry as well. Miley turned to her dad, "Do you know what I did for that hour dad?"

He shook his head, "Sat quietly I hope."

Miley smiled sweetly and shook her head, turning around dramatically again and sitting on the end of my bed. "Lily," she hugged me, noticing the life support immediately. "Are you okay?"

I nodded my head, and looked over at Oliver who was collapsing in a chair Miley's dad had placed next to my bed. "I'm fine," I smiled. "I even got to go to the cafeteria this morning."

"That's great," Miley laughed. "It's an improvement then," I nodded. "That's great," Miley repeated.

"Your still going to see us on Wednesday right?" Oliver added in, sitting up in his seat as he said it. I nodded, and Oliver looked around the room. "What do you do around here for fun?" He asked randomly.

I looked over at Miley's dad, who was sitting next to Oliver in his own chair, "I make Mr. Stewart play games with me," I told him and Miley. "So far, we've done choose, and the – lets shove food down Lily's throat – game." I covered my mouth with my hand so that Mr. Stewart couldn't see and whispered, "so far, that one's my favourite." I made sure that it was loud enough so that Miley's dad could hear, and when I looked over he was rolling his eyes.

"I'm not shoving food down her throat," Mr. Stewart told Miley and Oliver. "I got her to eat breakfast this morning," He said. "End of game."

Miley and Oliver laughed, and turned their attention back to me. Miley suggested a game of cards, while Mr. Stewart went to talk to one of the nurses for an hour. First it was Go Fish, because that was the only game Oliver could remember to play – even though he lost, and then Miley and I tried to teach Oliver how to play poker, but it didn't work so we spent the rest of the afternoon talking before visiting hours were over and Mr. Oken came to take Miley and Oliver home.

"Bye," I said, hugging Miley tightly before she went off. "I'll see you tomorrow right?"

Miley nodded and squeezed me one last time before she let Oliver say goodbye.

"We'll definitely see you tomorrow," he whispered in my ear as he gave me a squeeze as well. "Bye Lily, have fun with Miley's dad!"

I waved goodbye, and when they left the room seemed a lot more quiet. I sighed, and looked around the room, finally deciding to pick up and eat, some more of my bagel until Miley's dad came back into the room.

"We've got you covered for Wednesday," Mr. Stewart told me immediately as he walked through the door. I clapped my hands in excitement, and Miley's dad rearranged the chairs near my bed so that only his was left. "I'll pick you up in the morning at 8, we'll see the play, and then I've got to bring you back here at 12 for radiation. Then at 4, Miley Oliver and I will come pick you up for dinner."

I nodded, "sounds great!" I sat up in my bed, the way I was lying before was starting to hurt my back, and I reached for the cards Miley had left on my table. "Do you want to play cards?"

Mr. Stewart shrugged, and then nodded his head, "What else do I have to do." He smiled, and I dealt the cards for BS, which was the only game I knew I could beat Miley's dad at. "You had to pick this game," he laughed once he'd noticed which game I had planned for us to play. "Didn't you?"

"Oh course," I shrugged, putting down my three aces. "How can I forget about me and Miley beating you at least ten times last summer on the beach?"

"It wasn't ten," Mr. Stewart laughed, "BS." He announced after I put down my cards. I turned the card over and took the pile when he'd realized I'd lied. I shrugged my shoulders, and smiled sweetly as Mr. Stewart put down his cards.

"Total BS," I yelled, and Mr. Stewart picked up the small deck.

"You are an evil child," He pointed at me and placed his cards down on his lap to look at his watch. I paused the game as well, putting the cards down on the table, and took a sip from my orange juice. "Your parents should have been here half an hour ago." Mr. Stewart frowned.

"They aren't the most punctual people in the world, I laughed again. "But you should call them in case."

Mr. Stewart nodded, grabbing his cell phone from the other side of the room and walked out of my room to make the phone call. I shrugged, and quickly looked at the cards he had left on his chair making sure Mr. Stewart wouldn't catch me. But eventually, I got bored and put them down again because Miley's dad was taking too long. With nothing left to do, I reached for the television remote and turned on the tv for only the second time since I'd been in the hospital.


	33. Pinkie Promise

**Robbie Ray's POV:**

I waited until I was clear of Lily's room before I made the phone call. Only because I wanted to make sure that Lily wouldn't hear the conversation, whether it be good or bad. So I walked all the way to the end of the hallway before I dialled the Truscott's number.

It took three or four rings before anyone answered, "Hello?" Mrs. Truscott's voice sounds tired. I could hear Blake in the background singing, and another phone ringing.

"Martha?" I asked, even though I knew it was her. "Is everything alright over there?"

Mrs. Truscott was silent for a few minutes, and in this few minutes Blake had calmed down and I couldn't hear her anymore. "We've got some problems," Mrs. Truscott sighed. "But hopefully something we can fix."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I offered, knowing that this was harder for Lily's family than they made it seem.

Mrs. Truscott sighed again, and clicked her tongue just like Lily does when she's upset or nervous. "Unless you can find us a cheap house in Malibu," she answered, "I don't think you can."

"What about living with us?" I asked, never considering this in my head. "Just until you've got everything settled."

"We'll have to think about it," Martha told me, but I could hear the smile in her tone. I knew that eventually Mrs. Truscott would say yes, she would just discuss living with us with her husband and then call me back. "We wouldn't want to be a hassle."

"Hassle," I asked with surprise. "Martha, I could help. On days that you can't, I'll take Lily to treatments, and when Lily can, I'll drop her and Miley off at school."

Mrs. Truscott was silent again, she was giving in. "You have no idea how much of a hero your being Robbie," she told me after a while. "But listen," Martha added. "You won't have to worry about Blake; she's going to stay with my sister in San Francisco until the end of the summer. Blake's already out of school, and we'll all be too busy with Lily and everything."

"Alright," I agreed, sounding excited about this already. "It's settled, you're moving in. I'm sure Miley won't mind at all."

Mrs. Truscott laughed, "I sure hope Lily doesn't." I nodded, even though I knew Martha couldn't see. "I don't think Lily's told Miley or Oliver yet."

"That could be a problem," I agreed. I thought about Miley's reaction to that kind of news, especially if Lily kept it for longer than the moment she found out. If Lily and Miley were living in the same house, I doubt it would take Miley long, unless Lily hid it really well. "Is there anything else I could help out with?"

"No," Mrs. Truscott responded, I could still hear the smile over the phone, and from the commotion behind her I guessed Martha had told her husband. "Just take care of Lily for us again tonight. Just tonight and we'll be there tomorrow in the afternoon."

"Alright," I nodded, looking up the hallway to see Dr. Chow walk into Lily's room, with a nurse following behind. "I'll see you then," I added. "I've got to get back to Lily's room now, she's waiting."

"Thanks Robbie," Martha whispered before I hung up the phone. "For everything – see you tomorrow."

I nodded, hanging up the phone, and quickly checking for messages before I walked down the hallway again to get back to Lily. Where, when I entered, I found the nurse changing Lily's bandages again, and I got a quick glance at the bloody stitches before I looked down at the floor.

"Scared of blood?" Lily laughed when she noticed, moving her head around to face me and causing the nurse to turn her head straight again. "Oh," she laughed when I didn't answer, "You're so scared." Lily exaggerated the word so, making it seem longer.

"I'm not scared," I retorted, smirking at Lily even though she couldn't see my face because of the position of her face. "I just thought I dropped something on the floor."

"Yeah," Lily smiled, turning her head now that she was free from the nurse's grip. "I'm sure that's the truth." I smirked again now that Lily could see me, and she smirked back. The doctor and nurse left, and Lily sat down in her seat with her arms crossed across her chest – she didn't bother to put her hat back on. "What took you so long in the hallway?" Lily asked.

"I called your parents to check up on them," I told Lily, who was getting more interesting in what I was saying. I could tell she wanted to know when her parents were coming, "and the Truscott's are moving in with Miley, Jackson and I for a couple of weeks."

Lily's mouth went wide open, "Why?" She asked in complete surprise. "I mean," Lily recovered, "Are my parents okay? What's happening to our house?"

"Your parents have to sell it," I whispered, not wanting to be the one that broke the news to Lily.

"Because of me?" Lily asked, getting worked up about it. "Because I have to be here?"

I shrugged my shoulders even though I knew the answer to that question, "Your mom and dad just can't live in Malibu anymore."

Lily slumped in her chair, trying to muster up a smile in my behalf. "I guess," she told me, with a half smile. "It will be cool living with you."

"You guess?" I asked in attempt to cheer Lily up. "We're talking pancakes, beach bonfires, games," I counted on my fingers. Lily's smile lit up a little, and she shrugged her shoulders. "It'll be fun, we promise."


	34. Warning: Authors Note

Hey all!

Just wanted to let you know, I'll be flying to New York City tomorrow with my family and friend Claire. We're going for an art opening, so I'll be busy for the entire day … but I'll definitely post some tonight, and then on Wednesday when we're settled into the hotel!

Thanks for the great reviews, again! I'm so glad everyone likes this story!

- Rosie


	35. Apple Bee's

Lily held out her pinkie finger on the closest hand to me, "You have to pinkie promise." She told me, nodding her head towards her pinkie which I had yet to shake. I held up mine and linked it with Lily's, she finally smiled, "I trust you Mr. S."

"Good," I smiled, taking my hand back, "You should."

Lily laughed weakly, and lay down in her bed completely once again. "When are we moving in?" She whispered almost so that I could barely hear her. "Does Miley know yet?"

I shook my head at the second question, and never considered when I would. "Your mom and dad are going to move in as soon as possible," I added, catching Lily's attention so that she was now looking at me again. "And we'll all pick you up next Sunday when you're released from the hospital."

"Wait," Lily perked up a little bit. "I'm getting released on Sunday?" I nodded, "Ah, freedom at last!"

I laughed, Lily was so happy at that point that she'd basically forgotten about her problems. "You just have to wait one more week."

Lily stopped, and smirked at me. "Way to ruin the moment Mr. Stewart," she told me with another half a smile. I sat down on the closest chair and smirked back. "Just think, another week of doctors, nurses and stupid visiting hours, and then I'm done!" Lily paused, "Are my mom and dad coming today?"

I shook my head, "They're sending Blake to San Francisco with your Aunt Katherine for the summer," I explained, and Lily's eyes widened. "The flights tonight and they've got to get everything packed."

"I won't get to say good bye to Blake?" Lily asked loudly. "She'll be gone the whole summer, and I can't say goodbye?"

"You can write a letter," I suggested, trying my best to keep Lily calm and to explain, "Blake just, she doesn't know much about the situation."

"Alright," Lily said sourly – she was going through a lot of mood changes this afternoon. "Then when do I get to see my parents?"

"Tomorrow," I told Lily, her arms were still crossed and her eyes were narrowed. "Around 12 o'clock, and they promise to be here this time."

Lily nodded her head and said nothing else. Instead she took her hard cover biology book, and opened it to the chapter questions, which was part of the homework Miley and Oliver had brought over. Lily looked up at me once, but it was only for a second before she looked down again. I sighed, not knowing what else to do, and took my iPod out of my pocket. Before realizing it, I was humming along – which is when I got another death glare from Lily.

"It's too quiet in here," I announced, taking my earphones out of my ears. "I can't work with quiet; I guess I'm just used to living with Miley and Jackson." Lily laughed slightly, not bothering to look up at the paper she was writing vigorously on. "You know," I started again; "You're a lot more quiet than usual."

Lily shrugged, and stopped writing but didn't look up. "I can be quiet when I want to," she smiled. "It's usually the sugar that does it."

I laughed, turning my iPod off completely and taking the open book from Lily's lap placing it on the table. "So," I tried getting Lily's attention – which was still directed towards the sheets she was buried under. "What do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

Lily shrugged again, looking up for the first time since we started talking. "I should probably catch up on my homework," Lily smiled, and took the book back from where I put it on the table. She opened it to the page she was on before, and started reading. "I don't want to be behind."

"Alright," I laughed, and got up slightly from my seat. "I think I'm going to get some lunch from the cafeteria, do you want anything?" Lily shook her head, "Alright, I'll be back with your slice of pizza."

Lily laughed, "Did I say yes?" She asked, looking up at me again. I lied, nodding my head, "Okay then, pizza will be nice."

**Miley's POV:**

After the hospital, Oliver, Mr. Oken and I got back into the car and we drove off in the opposite direction of their house. At first Oliver was confused, and then he seemed to understand – but it left me in the dust.

"Where are we going Mr. Oken?" I asked the moment we turned into an Apple Bee's parking lot.

Mr. Oken turned around to face me and Oliver in the backseat of the car, "I figured you two might need some lunch," he told us. "So why don't we all get out and have a little fun."

Oliver and I looked at each other and got out of the car simultaneously. "Thanks dad," Oliver said when we walked into pace with Mr. Oken. "This is really nice of you."

"Yeah," Oliver's dad put his arm around Oliver's shoulders. "Well, I thought you two needed something like this."

"Thanks," I repeated giving Mr. Oken a smile, "For everything."  
Mr. Oken nodded, and gave me a smile back. We all entered the restaurant and while waiting for a table we told jokes – stupid ones, but jokes regardless. By the time we were seated, and our drink orders were placed, we were all in hysterics, which was nice, because it was always so hard seeing Lily in the hospital.

"Alright," Oliver laughed, recovering from the joke his dad just told. "I've got one," Mr. Oken and I nodded, waiting for the joke. "So this man walks into a bakery, and the guy at the counter asks the man if he wants white or rye bread," Oliver laughs. "And the man goes, sorry I left my bike outside."

Mr. Oken and I looked at each other in question, this joke was nor funny or made any sense, but Oliver seemed to think it was the most hilarious thing in the world. You really couldn't help but laugh at the way Oliver was in hysterics again. **(A/N the "sorry I left my bike outside," line is a huge family joke. My aunt told the joke at thanksgiving dinner and now when you don't want to answer the question/don't know the answer, my family always says "sorry, I left my bike outside.)**

"So," Mr. Oken cleared his throat and wiped the tears from his eyes. "What are you guys going to eat for lunch?"

Oliver shook his head, clearing his throat as well. But he just couldn't seem to stop laughing. So I cut in, "I think I'll have the bacon cheese burger," I said, pointing to the meal in the menu. "Or should I have the grilled cheese?"

"I would go with grilled cheese," Mr. Oken nodded, looking at his own menu, "Definitely. I read that you should stay away from a lot of red meat."

"Alright," I agreed – somehow, I had read that too. I put down my menu, and poked Oliver, how was still holding in his laugh, in the side. "What are you going to have Oliver?"

Oliver glanced at his menu quickly, "I'm going to have the hamburger." He told us, and Mr. Oken and I laughed again. "What?"

"We were just talking about having less red meat," Oliver's dad explained to Oliver, who hadn't listened to our conversation before. "But you can have a hamburger if you want."

"I'll have the hamburger," Oliver said again. His dad shrugged, and when we all decided what to get, he asked for the waiter to come back, and when our waiter did, he brought our drinks with him. And then our orders were placed quickly, and then we had some more time to wait. But things had started to calm down, and we were no longer telling jokes.

"How's school you two?" Mr. Oken asked, breaking the ice. Oliver and I shrugged, "And the play? You worked on it all day yesterday and this morning, is that going well?"

I nodded, and Oliver did the same. "We're trying really hard to have it go right," Oliver told his dad, while at the same time, turning his napkin into a smaller square. "We don't want a rerun of Romeo and Juliet, now do we?"

I laughed and shook my head, "but this time it's better." I added, "It's not as hard – Oliver and I can have so much fun with these parts, and we have."

Oliver's dad smiled, "I'm glad." He told us taking a sip from his drink. "Everyone can't wait to see it. From what I've heard Lily's been getting your dad to make sure the hospital staff will let her out on Wednesday, even though she's been told three times already."

"Lily always likes to make sure," Oliver laughed, I nodded my head, and we were all silent. Just mentioning Lily could make the situation a little sadder, because it meant that Lily was still in the hospital and not free to hang out whenever I called her, or to pass notes to at school. "We'll see her on Wednesday," Oliver whispered to me, noticing my sudden change. "Lily's fine, I'm sure she is. And when she gets out of the hospital it will be like she wasn't even there in the first place." I nodded my head, looking Oliver in the eye and giving him a slight smile. He was always there to brighten up the day, no matter what happened. There were moments in the past where I could remember Oliver comforting me, like the first time I was in time out in kindergarten because I pinched Amber, or when my favourite dress got covered in chocolate during snack time. Oliver was there beside me for a week after my mom died and I refused to go to school, he even brought me my favourite gummy bears to help cheer me up. And now, Oliver was there again, and it was helping.

"Thanks," I whispered back, "You're a great friend."


	36. Another Authors note

Hey everyone!

Just a quick author's note before I get started on the next chapter of _Unlisted Help_. I've arrived in New York, and the art opening was great! And surprise surprise, last night my sister Phoebe, my friend Claire, my mom and her friend and I got into the premiere of Material Girls – which was amazing. Though I could have done without meeting Hilary and Haylie Duff… but you can't get everything right. Anyway, the time difference is killing me, but I'll be up until late tonight so expect at least one post. I'll try and make them as long as possible.

Oh, and I still don't have an idea for the play Miley and Oliver were going to do. I don't think I have enough idea's or humour to make up one myself, and I wouldn't know how to use Rent like some of you suggested. So more idea's are very very very welcome! … Or if it's okay with you all, I might just skip ahead of the play, and just have Lily, or Miley's POV, and talk about the beginning and end of the play where Miley, Oliver and Lily talk… I don't know yet guys – I need your help!

- Rosie


	37. Rainy Days

"Alright," Oliver and I looked up at his dad, "The foods coming out way," he smiled; we both turned our heads in time for the waiter to hand us our food. Oliver and I took one last smile at each other and turned to our food.

"Cheers," Oliver said, holding up his glass with one hand and waiting for us to do the same. We held ours up, and the glasses clicked together. "Cheers," we all repeated before we dug into our food, remaining silent for the rest of the time.

When we walked out of the restaurant, though, we were laughing again. Mr. Oken had let us have dessert, and Oliver and I had a major sugar rush all the way home, which Mr. Oken probably regretted now that he had a twenty minute car ride home with us. By the time we got back to Oliver's house, my temporary home, the sky was dimming on the beach, and the sugar rush had worn down to the point where all we wanted to do was collapse on the couch – which we did.

"Bed early tonight," Oliver's dad laughed at the sight as he passed the couch on his way to the kitchen. "But it's only four, so get up the both of you."

Oliver and I laughed and sleepily got up from the couch so that we were sitting up instead of lying on top of each other. I groaned a little, and looked around at the large living room, Mr. Oken was holding up a cup of tea for both Oliver and I and placing it on the end of the counter for us to take. I looked at Oliver, but neither of us were about to get up.

"You two are the laziest kids in the world," Mr. Oken laughed, giving in and taking the tea to us on the couch. "Don't spill anything," he advised before he left us alone to get some work down in his office on the other side of the house.

When I got up to get my cup of tea on the coffee table, I looked at Oliver again, "We are lazy," I laughed. Oliver nodded his head lazily, and picked himself up from the couch, taking his cup on the way to the computer behind the couch. "Why are you going on the computer?"

Oliver shrugged, and sat down at the computer, "Just checking my mail." Oliver told me.

"Do you think I could check mine after you?" I asked, turning around on the couch, and facing Oliver. He nodded his head, and I turned back around again and took some sips of my tea.

"Alright," Oliver sighed a few moments later, sitting back down next to me. "You can have the computer now."

I nodded my head, and thanked Oliver before I got off of the couch. I knew I wouldn't have any mail – most of the mail I usually got was from Lily, but I wanted to check in case. When I logged on, surprisingly I had mail. It was from Jackson, asking me how Oliver's house was, and how he and Cooper were hanging with some girls tomorrow on the beach – typical Jackson. Once I'd responded, telling Jackson that I was fine, and that we had gone to see Lily this afternoon, I checked on my Hannah mail.

There were letters from fans, of course, that were telling me how big a fan they were, and how they loved my songs, but there were letters about why I had cancelled some of my shows in San Francisco and San Diego. I replied saying that I had some family problems and that I would soon be singing again.

"Alright," I sang when I had typed my last response. "I'm done with my mail," I logged off and sat back down next to Oliver. I could tell he was thinking about something and I knew it was about Lily. "Are you alright Oliver?" I asked. He nodded, and we sat there in silence for a little while until we were done with our tea.

"So what do you want to do tomorrow?" Oliver asked, clearing his throat. "I'm thinking we should hit the beach."

I nodded my head, "Is it supposed to be a nice day?" Oliver shrugged his shoulders and looked out at the sky. "And if it isn't?"

"We'll go to the movies," Oliver laughed, grabbing the newspaper in front of him and flipping through the pages until he got to the movie times. "What movie do you want to see?"

"I'm thinking Zoom," I laughed, and Oliver looked at me with wide eyes. "What? I like kid movies, they're entertaining."

"What about Step up," Oliver asked, pointing to everything but Zoom. "What about Pirates of the Caribbean?"

I raised my eyebrows and looked at the ad for the movies, "that's out?" I asked loudly, I had suddenly woke up again. "We have to see that, Johnny Depp is in that movie!" Oliver rolled his eyes, I had exaggerated the words Johnny Depp and now I could tell that he regretted showing me. "Kiera Knightly is in it too," I told Oliver with a smile, hoping that that would convince him.

Oliver shrugged again, "I guess we can see that then," Oliver said coolly, looking at the times for the movies so that we could tell his dad all the details. "When did it come out? Should we get the tickets online?"

I shook my head, "I don't think we should get the tickets." I sighed, taking the newspaper from Oliver's hand and looked closely at the ad; the movie had come out three weeks ago. "Nope, we don't have to get the tickets – Pirates of the Caribbean came out ages ago. The movie theatre might even be empty."

"Okay," Oliver told me, getting up from the seat and walking towards his dad's office where his dad was still held up. "I'll be right back; I've got to work it out with the old man."

I nodded, and carefully ripped out the Pirates of the Caribbean ad and tucked it into my pocket. Then I closed the newspaper and placed it back on the table before lying back down on the couch again. It was taking a long time for Oliver to come back from his dad's office, and so I was starting to fall asleep, even if it was only four o'clock Oliver and I had gotten up at five this morning. I don't know why, we had gotten up and walked around the beach for a while before we walked back to the house, and when we got back to the house Oliver's dad had been up and made breakfast. He was going to drive us to the hospital once we were dressed.

"Are you tired Miley?" Oliver startled me as he came back into the room. He moved my legs from the other side of the couch and sat down. "Tomorrow morning we're sleeping until noon; don't wake me up at five again." I nodded my head sleepily, and sat up slowly with my head leaning on the edge of the couch.

"Oliver?" I asked, looking over at him on the other side of the couch. "Do you think we could go sit on the balcony and look at the stars?" Oliver nodded, and helped me up from the couch.

"Are the stars even out yet?" Oliver asked on the way up the stairs.

I shrugged and we walked out onto the balcony, where we sat down again and looked up to find no stars. "We could watch the sunset," I whispered, sleepy taking over once again. "What did your dad say about the movies?"

Oliver looked over at me and nodded his head slightly, "We're on for the movies," he told me in a whisper. "My dad checked the weather, and apparently it's supposed to thunder tomorrow."

"I thought so," I laughed weakly, "I could feel it, Mother Nature knows we have to go see Johnny Depp."


	38. Natural Disaster

**Lily's POV:**

The next morning I woke up to a huge crack of thunder, and the sounds of pouring rain on the sidewalk. I smiled at the sight; I'd always liked it when it rained for some reason. But then I looked at the sky again, and though it was dark due to the storm, I knew that it was also early in the morning. Of course, Mr. Stewart, who had been nicely staying with me for the past two days, was asleep on the floor again, snoring as usual. I tried to get asleep, but once I woke up I couldn't. I ended up watching the lighting in the distance until I could think of something better to do.

Lucky for me, half an hour later Mr. Stewarts cell phone rang, waking him up from his deep sleep. He looked at me sleepily, and answered the phone. "Hello?" he asked, his voice was still weak. "Oh hey Miley," Mr. Stewart smiled at me. "Yep," he said into the phone. "Is Mr. Oken awake? What time is it?" Miley answered obviously, and her dad's eyes widened. "5:00?" He asked as loud as he could in a whisper. "Call again when Mr. Oken is awake," Mr. Stewart told Miley. "You get some more rest – I love you, bye Miley."

Miley's dad hung up and put his phone on the closest table he could find, "Good morning Mr. Stewart," I sang, very much more cheerfully than he would ever be at this hour. "How are you on this fine day?"

Miley's dad shook his head and picked himself up from the floor so that he was leaning against my bed frame. "It's too early Lily," He sighed, looking up at me. "You and Miley really have to stop doing this to me."

"Just wait until I come to live with you," I laughed, lightening up to the idea of moving in with the Stewarts now that I had time to sleep on it. "We'll sure make a good team when it comes to waking everyone up."

Mr. Stewart laughed again, and closed his eyes a few times before he tried opening them completely, trying to stay awake. "I think I'm going to go buy a big box of sleeping pills, and a super sized container of coffee."

I smiled, and leaned back on my bed. I was starting to get bored again. I sighed, "So what's Miley doing up at 5 am?" I asked, having nothing else to ask.

Mr. Stewart shrugged, "Miley can be an early riser when she feels like it," he told me. "When she gets excited about things, like birthdays, Christmas. She and Oliver are going to see Pirates of the Caribbean today, so I guess that's what she's excited about."

I nodded my head, "Johnny Depp is in that movie," I raved, causing Mr. Stewart to slap his head. "And Orlando Bloom and they're pirates!" I exaggerated the word and, every time I said it. I had really wanted to see Pirates of the Caribbean, and I was looking forward to grilling Miley and Oliver about it later.

"Miley and Oliver will swing by here after the movie," Miley's dad said, practically reading my mind. "That should be around three o'clock." I nodded and we were silent again, "I'm going to go get some coffee, do you want anything?"

"Could you get me a chocolate chip muffin please?" I asked, watching Mr. Stewart walk out of the door. He nodded and I settled down into my bed again, looking around the room for something else to do.

Unfortunately, there was nothing. I had finished my work for school so that I was caught up, my mom had taken my iPod with her when she went home so that she could charge it for me, and the cards were all the way across the room where I couldn't reach them. I sighed, playing with the end of my hair, which was still braided. I picked at the side of my bandage, remembering that I hadn't put my hat back on yesterday when the doctor had changed it. It was thin, itchy material that I couldn't wait to get off.

"I'm back," Mr. Stewart announced as he walked through the door, holding out the muffin for me to take. I took it, "I've got my coffee fix now; I think I'm a little more awake."

"I don't think we want that," I told him back, noticing how hyper he was starting to get. I knew where Miley got it from now, "We've got to get you off the coffee mister." Mr. Stewart shook his head, and sat down on the chair that was left by my bed. "You know, my dad was once addicted to coffee. He would have to drink a cup everyday otherwise he would be grumpy. He's come back from the dark side, you should too."

"Dark side Lily?" Miley's dad asked me with a slight smile as he took another sip from his coffee and I started on my muffin. "I think you've been breathing in laughing gas from that thing," he pointed referring to my life support.

"Nah," I laughed. "The stuff the dentist gives you? I hate that, it makes you so loony."

Mr. Stewart raised his eyebrows and gave me a look, "Alright," he sang. "What do you want to do today? I'm sure we can figure out something new to do."

I shook my head; this hospital was getting kind of boring. "There's nothing we could do," I groaned. "I'm completely and utterly bored, and I want to go home to hang out with Miley and Oliver."

"Just think," Mr. Stewart said, I could tell he was trying to cheer me up. "On Wednesday you'll be out of here for most of the day. And then on Sunday, you're out and free to hang out with Miley 24/7," I smiled, and then Mr. Stewart added, "as long as it's in the house. Your doctor said you've got to take it easy for a little while until you're ready to get out there."

"Define 'out there'" I asked, knowing there was something he knew and I didn't.

"We're talking quite a while," Mr. Stewart whispered. "Until you're allowed to go to places like the beach or the mall."

I was shocked, "what?" I asked louder than I had intended. "Why?"

"Too many people," Mr. Stewart explained. "With too many infections. Unless of course, you want the face mask." I shook my head, "Well then, we're going to make the house as fun as we can for you."

"What about school?" I asked figuring the doctors had a reason not to go there either.

"You can go to school," Mr. Stewart told me, "But you'll have to keep a close eye on your hygiene, like washing your hands and keeping away from kids that are sick."

"How am I supposed to do that?" I asked, getting more frustrated with these rules. "Do you know how many kids get sick and don't even know it?"

Mr. Stewart shook his head, "I don't understand the rules either." He told me, "But I know you're allowed to go to school almost immediately after we pick you up."

"Immediately?" I asked groaning.

"The next day," Mr. Stewart told me, putting his empty cup of coffee in the garbage. "Unless you don't feel up to it, because you don't have to."

"I'll think about," I said, itching my head again as the bald skin underneath got irritated. "Now, when do I get this bandage off?"

Mr. Stewart sat back down in his seat, and looked outside of the room at the few doctors that were walking around at this time in the morning. I noticed then that the lighting and thunder was still going on in the distance, I had just gotten used to the sound of the rain hitting the sidewalk. Before Mr. Stewart could answer, the lights flickered once or twice, turning the machines around me on and off.

"I think the doctor said you could get it off today," Mr. Stewart told me, looking around the room as the lights flickered again. "Is the power going to go off?" I shrugged.


	39. Moving In

"It shouldn't," the doctor said as he walked through the door. I looked up at him, "Are you ready to get those bandages off?" I nodded, and the doctor got me to lift my head up. He unhooked the bandage clip, and slowly took my bandage off, which he rolled in a ball and threw away. He took the tape and gauze off the stitches, and rubbed some cream over the cut to keep it from getting infected. I smiled, I was so happy to get the itchy bandages off.

"Thank you," I beamed at the doctor, "thank you so much."

My doctor nodded his head and looked from Miley's dad to me, "are you ready for radiation tomorrow Lily?" I shook my head, "Do you have any questions or concerns?"

I thought about it, "How long will it take? Will it hurt?"

"The procedure should only take a couple minutes," the doctor explained to me. "But it will take half an hour. It shouldn't hurt, but afterwards you might have some nausea, lack of sleep, irritation of the skin where we'll be working on."

"Great," I mumbled, "I'm looking forward to that."

The next morning I woke up in a miserable mood – I really didn't want to have radiation therapy. But thankfully, I had my parents with me now, and my mom was beside me on my bedside. Mr. Stewart had gone home yesterday, and we had had a goodbye "party" in the cafeteria with everyone, which had included a piece of chocolate cake from the buffet line. From what I heard, Miley was super excited about her dad being back, and she had moved back as soon as he walked into the door. Miley had yet to find out that we were moving in as well.

"Are you alright sweetie?" My mom asked me immediately as I woke up – which was later than usual I noticed. In an hours time I would be going into another room for radiation. I shook my head, my stomach full of butterflies and elephants. "It will be fine," My mom told me, running her hands through my hair, which she proceeded to put into two bundles. "You'll be nervous for the first day, it will get better."

I nodded my head, "I guess that's it," I whispered to her. "Do you really think everything will be okay after this?" My mom nodded her head in agreement, and I turned my head to look at the ceiling until the doctor was called into my room.

"Everything is set," he told me and my mom while at the same time lifting me up from my bed and helping me and all my IV's into a wheelchair. "We'll be back in a half an hour," he told my mom before we left.

I was then wheeled into a large room where an ever larger machine was set up. The machine looked as if it were from a different planet – there was a long arm that hovered over a long white bed, and had technical looking buttons. I was placed on the bed, after being helped into a hospital gown by another nurse, and then I could hear the whirl of the machine turning on. The doctor sat down at the side, where all the buttons were, and I was told to stay still until he told me I could move. I couldn't feel anything throughout the procedure, but one half an hour later, I went back to the hospital room with a booming headache that just wouldn't go away.

**Miley's POV:**

When my dad got home, he made it seem as if he were never gone. The next morning when I woke up, he was downstairs making his famous pancakes, and humming some oldies song that I didn't know.

"Hey daddy," I smiled, sitting down on the kitchen stool and watching my dad flip the pancakes. "When's Jackson going to get home from Coopers?"

My dad looked at me once with a smile, "he should be getting back this afternoon." He told me before turning back to his pancakes. "But I don't think we should rush him.' I laughed, nodding and grabbing a couple of pancakes from the plate that my dad had placed in front of me.

"Did you miss being home dad?" I asked, after eating my first pancake. My dad turned to me again, smiling and turning back to the stove. He didn't say anything, but he had started to hum again. "How was Lily?"

"She's good," He told me. "We took a trip down to the cafeteria yesterday for a goodbye party and shared a small piece of chocolate cake. Of course, you and Oliver should have been there."

I nodded my head, "I wish we could have been," I told him enthusiastically. "But Mr. Oken had to work and so Oliver and I spent the day on the beach."

"Not too bad of a day," my dad mused, finishing off the batter, and finally turning off the stove to sit down across from me and have his own breakfast. "Did I mention I have a surprise for you?" He asked halfway through his pancake.

"No," I demanded, wondering what the heck this surprise could be about.

My dad laughed and put down his fork, finishing the pancake before he started to speak again. "Well," he started, and you could tell that he was trying to tease me. "Turns out the Truscott's have to move, and since we don't want them to leave Malibu, they're going to move in with us for a couple of weeks."

I clapped my hands in glee, completely forgetting to ask my dad why they had to move. "I can't wait!" I exclaimed to my dad, who then covered his ears with his hands and proceeded to eat his pancakes. "When are they going to move in?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Truscott are going to move in tonight," my dad told me. "And Lily's going to move in when the hospital releases her."

"Which is Sunday?" I asked remembering being told this one time before.

"Or sooner," he added. "It depends on how Lily's health is doing." I clapped in excitement again, and propped myself up from the chair so that I was sitting higher.

"This is so exciting," I announced eating the rest of the pancakes on my plate, and then putting the dirty plate in the dishwasher. "Where's Lily going to sleep? What about Blake?"

"The guest room across from your room," my dad replied, taking another bite from his pancake. "And Blake went to San Francisco with her aunt for the summer."

"Alright then," I said, running towards the couch and grabbing my book and m backpack, and running again out of the door. Unfortunately I had to go to school, but I was going to announce the good news to Oliver, so it made it even more exciting.

I got into school just as the morning bell rang and the announcements were going on through the loud speakers. I had English first, and luckily that was Oliver – so I would get to tell him before I exploded.

When I got to the class though, the teacher was already writing on the board, and I had to sneak into my chair across from Oliver in the back.

"Oliver?" I whispered, when I reached my seat and had my binder out. I started to take notes before Oliver responded, "I have some good news about Lily."

"What?" Oliver whispered back, pretending to take notes while still trying to pay attention. "Is Lily okay?"

I nodded my head, and held up my hand telling him to wait a second. I was going to write a note.

_My dad says if Lily's health improves Lily can get out of the hospital earlier than Sunday,_ I wrote handing the note across to Oliver who took it from me.

_How early are we talking?_ Oliver wrote back. _When does she come back to school?_

_Depends on Lily's health,_ I wrote underlining the word depends, because obviously he wasn't getting it. _And she comes back to school next week. Oh, and guess what?_

Oliver looked at me after I wrote the note, and mouthed what, but I pointed to the note and wrote it down. _Lily and her family are going to be living with me for a little while._

Oliver smiled at me, _is everything alright at the Truscott household?_

_She'd have to move out of Malibu otherwise, _I wrote. _And we don't want that. _

Oliver shook his head when we read the note, but when the teacher looked our way we had to hide the paper and start to look like we were actually doing something for the class.

"I'll explain it to you later," I whispered before I went back to work.


	40. Good News

Once the bell rang for the end of class, Oliver was all over me asking questions.

"Can she still come to the play tomorrow?" He asked me on the way to our Math class; this was the question he'd been asking me since we found out about the play. I nodded my head vigorously and rolled my eyes before I entered the classroom.

"Everything's set," I told him when we had sat down. "I just wanted to tell you the good news. It's nothing to freak about."

Oliver held him hands up in defeat, "all right." He sighed, turning the pages in his math book and answering the equations from the board on a clean sheet of paper. This was something our math teacher liked to call morning warm ups – but the equations were often easy to solve. Now, math was the one subject that Oliver and I had to pay attention to, and we especially couldn't talk because our teacher was extremely strict, so we just glanced at each other – reading the looks on our faces, until class ended.

"Miley," the math teacher nodded towards me before I could walk out of the door. When I walked up to her desk, a vanilla envelope was given to me. "Could you please give Ms. Truscott her class work for me?" I nodded my head, and looked behind my shoulder to find that Oliver was waiting at the door. "Thank you Miley, you can go now."

I waved as I walked with Oliver, and we made our way to our final class together, drama.

"Today," the teacher announced when we walked into the classroom. "We're going to start the final performances for the plays you've all been working on so hard." Everyone started speaking at once, and the teacher held up her hand to stop the commotion. "I believe we have Eliza and Mike up first," she told us, motioning towards the middle of the room. "The stage is yours now."

Eliza and Mike did the song Light my Candle from the Broadway play Rent – which I knew Eliza had gone to see in New York City over April break. The singing was good, they had planned it very well and I never knew Eliza or Mike had such good voices - I was impressed.

"They were good," Oliver whispered to me when they were done, and another couple was setting up for their skit. I didn't pay attention after that, I just sketched in my notebook until the bell rang and it was finally lunch time.

Oliver and I walked together again, though we were still missing Lily. A couple of the kids had noticed she was absent from school for more than one day – like someone would if they were sick. Some people asked us where she was, and some would whisper potential rumours about her whereabouts. The current answer, made up by Amber and Ashley, was that Lily was arrested – but of course, Oliver and I knew that wasn't true. We didn't bother saying anything, everyone would just wonder what Lily was doing in the hospital – and then there would be more rumours that we didn't want.

When we got into the cafeteria, Oliver and I went straight to the lunch line where we both got burgers and a carton of milk, and we walked to our usual table near the garbage can – because there was nowhere else to sit.

"Hey guys," Johnny Collins walked up to our table minutes after we sat down. He smiled at me, and I got weak – he was so cute. "What's up?"

I shrugged, so Oliver answered for me, "Not that much." He told Johnny, "We're just eating lunch."

Johnny nodded and sat down on the seat across from me, "Where's Truscott these days?" He asked eventually, "I've heard rumours, but I don't believe everything Amber and Ashley say." I laughed.

"If you don't tell anyone," I started, moving my tray from in front of me so that I could rest my elbows on the table. "We'll tell you," Johnny nodded his head and listened. "She's in the hospital with an infection," I told him as if it were nothing.

Johnny laughed, and leaned his elbows on the table. "I knew I shouldn't believe Amber or Ashley," he said in hysterics. "Lily wouldn't be arrested, now would she?" I shook my head, "So when does Lily get out?"

"Sunday," Oliver said, and then turned back to his lunch.

Johnny smiled at me, and then laid his hands flat on the table, "well tell Truscott I say hi." He told me, "Maybe the three of us could hang out at the beach sometime." I nodded my head, and Johnny got up from the table giving us a slight nod before he walked out of the cafeteria and into the hallway.

I squealed happily, doing a small dance before I went back to my lunch pretending as if nothing had happened. But inside I was still screaming, talking to Johnny had been the highlight of my day, and it was definitely something I was going to tell Lily over the phone later on.

"I wonder what Amber and Ashley have come up with now," Oliver said painfully. We had both hated what they were saying about her.

I laughed slightly, "Do we want to stick around to find out?" I asked Oliver, who shrugged his shoulders and moved more food around his plate. "Besides, they'll find out tomorrow when Lily comes to see the play."

"And hopefully," Oliver added. "That will be the stop to all rumours."

I laughed in disbelief, "With Amber and Ashley still at school, I really doubt that."

And of course, like every other day during the two weeks that Lily has been out of school, everyone was whispering again throughout the rest of the day. I spent the rest of my classes without Oliver, trying to ward off everyone's looks and pay attention to what the teacher was talking about. I couldn't wait to get home.

"Hey bud," my dad sang when I walked through the door of our house. Jackson was already on the couch catching popcorn in his mouth. "How was school?"

I shrugged my shoulders, rolling my eyes at Jackson who kept missing his mouth, and walked towards my dad on his computer. "It was okay," I told him, resting my elbow on his shoulder – which I could reach because he was sitting down, "Just the usual."

"Do you have a lot of homework?" My dad asked, without turning around to face me. I shook my head, grabbing a small stool to sit on next to my dad on the computer. "Lily's going to call around dinner time. Mrs. Truscott says she has a bit of a headache and needs to rest for a while."

I nodded my head, "Is she alright?"

My dad turned to me, "Yeah." He smiled; I could tell he knew something I didn't. "Must be allergies, the summer is coming and all."

I laughed, "Lily doesn't have allergies." But all my dad did was nod and turn back to the computer. So I got up and started to do my homework on the couch next to Jackson, who had moved onto trying to balance the popcorn bowl on his head. "Shouldn't you be doing your homework?" I whispered to him as I brought out my science notebook.

Jackson shook his head, "School was cancelled today." He told me, putting the popcorn back on the table, and resting his head next to it, "There were teacher conferences."

"Totally unfair," I exclaimed, hitting the pillow next to me. "So what did you do all day?"

Jackson shrugged and started to talk, but the phone rang – and since I was the closest to it I had to pick it up. I held up my finger telling Jackson to wait, because I figured it would be for my dad.

"Hello?" I said into the phone, "Stewart residence."

But then I heard a familiar voice, "Hey Miles." And I took the phone into my room.

"Lily?" I asked once I'd shut the door to my room and sat down on my bed. "My dad said you were going to call during dinner." I looked at my watch, "It's only 4 o'clock."

"I know," Lily laughed. "But my mom and dad talked to the doctors, and I wanted to share the good news."

I listened intently, "So?" I asked getting excited, "What's the good news?"

"I get out Thursday," She told me, and you could hear her smiling. "My parents are going to move my clothes to your house tomorrow, and they move in tonight."

I squealed for the second time today, "Oh," I told Lily, getting excited again. "I haven't told you my good news either."

"Alright then," Lily laughed, "Shoot."

"Johnny Collins came up to me at lunch today," I practically yelled – and Lily did the same. "He said that once you got out that maybe the three of us could hang out at the beach."

Lily yelled again, she was really excited for me, "that's so great Miley." She told me, "Johnny so likes you."

"I don't know," I shrugged. "He was hanging out with Amber and Ashley before."

"So what," Lily encouraged. "They're probably stalking him," she told me exaggerating the word stalking.

I laughed and agreed with Lily, and for the rest of the time we talked I decided not to mention the fact that there were rumours going on about her – that was the last thing she needed.

"Well Miley," Lily said after we'd talked for an hour and a half. "I think I have to go, my mom and dad are trying to take the phone away from my ear."

I laughed again, "Alright Lily." I said, wishing that we didn't have to say goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow for the performance."

We both said goodbye, and just as I hung up the phone my dad called that dinner was ready. I could smell the chicken noodle soup from here, so I rushed down the stairs and to the kitchen where Jackson and my dad were already sitting.


	41. Authors note note note

Hey All!

I'm still in New York City – until we leave for Iceland on Monday. And I'm just writing to say that tomorrow I can't post. My sister Christine's 9th birthday is tomorrow and my sisters Phoebe and Katie, me and my mom are driving all the way to Connecticut to get our ride on at Lake Compounce … never been – hopefully it will be good. And then, since we're going to be there all day, were coming back to the house late and having a cake I made for Christine while she wasn't at the apartment. But I'll definitely try to post tonight if I get the chance.

Oh yeah, and I suggest at least three more reviews before I write anymore…. Haha, I'm trying to be evil – but it isn't working! And yeah, more drama is coming. I'll probably bring back Oliver and the mysterious book about brain tumours. What do you guys think? Any suggestions about what I should do with this mysterious book?

Alright, talk to you guys laters!

-Rosie


	42. Dirty Little Secret

**Oliver's POV:**

The morning of the play I walked to Miley's house via the beach, so that we could go to school together. I entered the house through the porch door so that I immediately walked into the living room, where I found Mr. Stewart and Lily's dad talking on the couch.

"Good morning Mr. Stewart," I said as I walked to the kitchen where I grabbed my own stool. I figured Miley was still upstairs getting dressed. "Good morning Mr. Truscott."

"Good morning Oliver," both said in unison. Miley's dad got up from the couch and walked up to the kitchen where he poured me a glass of orange juice. "Miley should be down in a second," he told me when he passed me the juice. I nodded, and turned myself in the chair so that I was facing the living room.

"Lily's ecstatic about the play this morning," Mr. Truscott laughed. "She's got her nurse going crazy."

I laughed; Lily would do something like that, "What time is Lily coming?" I asked Mr. Stewart who after he dropped us off at school, would be going to pick up Lily at the hospital. Mr. and Mrs. Truscott were off on a business trip to San Diego this morning.

"Around 10:30," He told me, sitting down in a seat across from me. "Just before your drama class starts."

I nodded, and was about to talk again when Miley came bounding down the stairs.

"Hey Oliver," Miley said cheerfully, coming over to where I was and grabbing an orange juice to go. "We better get off to school," she said again, once she had swallowed. "Dad are you ready to drive us?"

Miley's dad nodded and we soon headed out the door to the car. As soon as we reached the school, the first bell rang and Miley and I had to run to English class in a hurry so that we didn't get into trouble. Then, we missed the second period bell for our math class because we were too busy finishing up what was on the board. So we were a little late for math, but thankfully the teacher didn't notice when we slipped into our seats quietly. But we were too excited about our next class, drama, to try to pay attention.

"Ms. Henderson?" I asked when she was in the middle of explaining an equation on the board, when she looked at me – I added quieter, "May I use the bathroom?"

The teacher nodded, and I walked out of the door and into the hallway quickly. But instead of using the bathroom, I decided to walk around the hallways more until I reached a water fountain – when I decided to take a drink.

"Save some for the fishes," someone yelled at me, slapping my back as I drank. I was about to turn around and yell at the person back, but then I realized that it was Lily and Mr. Stewart. I turned around to hug Lily, but when I did I found Lily in a wheelchair, with Mr. Stewart behind her. I bent over to hug her, and she returned the favour. "Nice to see you too Oliver," she laughed.

I got up again, and took one step back. Lily looked a lot better than she had at the hospital. She had been put into her normal clothes again, jean capris and a quarter sleeved t-shirt that barely covered the gauze that hid the IV bruises. Her hair was in two braids, and she had on another ski hat that hid half of her forehead. Lily wasn't as pale anymore, but it still scared me a little when she had the life support tubes still up her nose. The excess tubes were tucked over her ears and looped around to the back of her wheelchair where they were attached to a small container.

"You look great," I told Lily in awe, and she smiled. "But I've got to get back to class before I get yelled at."

Lily nodded, and we hugged one more time, "I'll see you in an hour." She whispered before I got up again and walked away with a wave. I smiled again, and when I turned the corner I really didn't want to go back into my classroom. But I did, and I walked back to my seat after being five minutes in the 'bathroom'. Miley looked at me in question, but I shrugged my shoulders and tried my best to pay attention.

"What was the long bathroom break about?" Miley asked while we walked the hallways to our drama class. I shrugged my shoulders, "You were out there for like ten minutes."

"I stopped to get a drink at the water fountain," I told Miley as we walked into the classroom. "And," I added as we walked over to Miley's dad and Lily – who Miley hadn't noticed yet, "I ran into somebody."

Miley looked up at me, her eyes landing on Lily and her dad who were now in front of us, "Lily!" She squealed, pulling her into a hug, "you came, you came, you came!"

"Of course I did," Lily laughed, yelling as well as they pulled away from the hug. "I wouldn't miss this for the world," Lily told us both.

"We better get to our seats," Miley's dad told us before we could say anything else, because he knew the two girls would and could talk an awful lot. "We'll see you two later," he told us before he wheeled Lily to the back of the room. We waved, and I took Miley to the front seats where all the other drama students were sitting. Before we were about to go on, Miley turned around on her seat and waved excitingly to Lily and her dad in the back. And then, we got on stage, and at first I was nervous – but the play went over well, and I was proud of what we'd done, especially when I had sucked so much at Shakespeare.

"That was beyond amazing," Lily told us, wheeling herself faster towards the stage than Miley's dad who was practically running behind her. "I can't believe you guys; you must have practiced so much!" We nodded our heads, and looked at each other.

"We did," Miley and I said at the same time.

All three of us laughed as Mr. Stewart came up behind Lily out of breath and Miley's crush Johnny stepped next to the three of us – Amber and Ashley were far behind near the classroom door.

"Hey Truscott," he said as he noticed her. "Couldn't weasel your way out of the wheels?" Lily shook her head, "Yeah, doctors can be the worst."

"No kidding," She laughed. "I don't get the rule, but apparently you can't beg your way out of it."

"Maybe next time," Johnny told Lily, giving a smile to her and Miley. "Hope we're still up on that offer for the beach," he asked, both girls nodded, and Johnny waved good bye and was immediately attacked by Amber and Ashley who rushed him out of the room.

"He is so cute!" Lily and Miley whispered, getting an eye roll from both me and Mr. Stewart.

"So how much longer do you have before you go back to the hospital?" Miley asked after they had gotten over Johnny. Lily shrugged her shoulders, looking up at Mr. Stewart for help. "Do you have time for lunch?"

Mr. Stewart nodded to Lily, "Evidently I do."

"Good," I smiled, taking the handles of the wheelchair from Mr. Stewart and going out to the hallway. "I think its macaroni and cheese day." I told her as we entered the cafeteria, usually Lily would be excited, but the look on her face said otherwise.

"I'm actually not that hungry," she smiled as I wheeled and parked her at our usual table. "Maybe just a roll or something – but that's all."

I nodded suspiciously, but Miley and I both got up to get our food anyway. When I reached the table, with Lily's roll on a plate, Mr. Stewart was talking to Lily about something I couldn't hear. And he seemed to lower his voice and completely stop once I'd reached the table. Lily looked at me again as I handed her the roll, and thanked me with a smile as she ripped it into tiny pieces and ate it one by one.

"Do you need butter on that?" Mr. Stewart asked.

Lily stared at him for a while before she nodded her head and Mr. Stewart went to go get the butter – giving another thankful smile as Miley's dad handed it to her. Lily didn't look to happy about the fact that she had butter, but I shrugged it off – only remembering later on, one important fact that I read in that book the night Miley went to go get her clothes. _If you are able to eat only small amounts of food, you can increase the calories per serving by: Adding butter or margarine._

"Well," Mr. Stewart said once Lily was done with her roll. "I think we better get back to the hospital," He told us with a sad look on his face. "I'll see you two when you get home from school."

I nodded and waved goodbye when Miley's dad took Lily out of the cafeteria, Miley had a distant look on her face and I could tell she hadn't wanted Lily to go. I waved my hand in front of her face to bring her back.

"That was fun," I said when she turned to me for an explanation. "I can't wait for tonight, it should be fun, the four of us at Malibu's hottest new restaurant." I exaggerated the words 'Malibu's hottest new restaurant'.

Miley rolled her eyes, but she laughed at the same time, "its cool having Lily back." She agreed, "But I wish we could have her for the full day."

Thankfully, the rest of the day went by faster than the morning had. Kids were staring at Miley and I, and whispering behind our backs about Lily – but we no longer seemed to care.

At the end of the day, I rode of Miley's bus so that I could get to her house for dinner tonight and not have to hassle my parents about it. It wasn't that long of a drive, but since I was excited about getting to the Stewarts house it took an eternity.

When we arrived, Miley and I raced into the house to see who could get to the kitchen first and get the favoured juice box that was the last one in the fridge. Unfortunately, though I was ahead of Miley, before reaching the kitchen I happened to notice Lily on the couch and because I didn't expect it I had to stop in and say hi again. But Lily was asleep on the couch when I approached and I ended up loosing the race to Miley.

"That was an unfair race," I whispered to Miley, who was poking a straw into the mango peach flavoured juice box that we had both wanted. "I went to go say hi to Lily."

Miley stuck her tongue out at me and continued to drink, "that's your loss," she whispered back. "You should have known she was asleep."

"How was I supposed to know?" I whispered again, grabbing the other juice box from the counter. Miley shrugged, and went to sit on the stools behind the counter – I followed, and we waited until her dad came back from where ever he was.

"You two are home early," was the first thing Mr. Stewart said to us as he came through the porch door. Miley shook her head, and pointed to an invisible watch on her wrist, Mr. Stewart checked the time and laughed, "Alright, maybe you aren't early." He looked over to Lily, "is she asleep already?"

Miley nodded, "What time are we leaving for dinner?" She whispered to him.

"In about two hours," Mr. Stewart responded back in a whisper. "So maybe you should start getting dressed now."

Miley stuck out her tongue again, this time it was orange from the drink, and shrugged her shoulders when she realized that her dad was probably right.

Once Miley made it all the way upstairs, I took the seat next to the couch where Lily was still sleeping, and the first thing I noticed was the book about brain tumours upside down on the table like someone had been reading it. As I started to turn it over, so that the pages wouldn't get ruined, Lily opened her eyes slightly and groaned. I laughed as she tried to cover herself back up with the covers Mr. Stewart had placed on her, and fall asleep again.

"Hey Oliver," she said weakly once she'd gotten herself up completely, "hey Mr. Stewart." I waved hello and finished placing the book right side up. Mr. Stewart then came to Lily with a bunch of different coloured pills in his hand and a glass of water, but Lily swallowed them all before I could get a chance to see what they were – except for one.

"Why are you taking an anticonvulsant?" I asked, knowing this because my cousin, whose epileptic takes the same pill.

Lily looked up at me, her face mixed with worry and question. The first thing she was going to do was deny it; I knew it, "What are you talking about?"

"An anticonvulsant," I asked again. "You know, it prevents … seizures." I paused between prevents and seizures, because I could already tell I didn't want to know why Lily was taking it. I didn't want to know how much trouble Lily was in. But then, I put two and two together. It had been right in front of me the whole time, and I felt horrid that I couldn't help a friend in need. "Is there something I don't know?" I asked again, quieter as I feared the answer.

Lily bit her lip, shaking her head. But I held up the book, revealing its title to Lily and I asked again, in pain. "Please," I begged Lily. "If you're in trouble, tell me."

Lily shook her head again vigorously, tears were starting to form in her eyes but I could tell she was holding them back. She put her head on the pillow again, and pulled the covers up to her shoulders. "I don't know what you're talking about Oliver," she told me sternly. "I don't know where you got the idea."

I put the book down on the coffee table, and sighed. "I know that my best friend Lily Truscott, who I've been friends with since kindergarten and have told everything to, would tell me if anything was wrong." Lily remained quiet, I knew I had her. "Do I have something to be worried about Lily?"

Lily shook her head, I sighed, and we were both silent for a while before Lily talked again. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you Oliver," she whispered weakly. "I didn't want you and Miley to worry about me."

I was shocked, Lily had admitted it. "Friends are supposed to be there for each other," I whispered back. "Through thick and thin," Lily nodded. "Are you going to be alright?" I asked seriously.

Lily shrugged her shoulders, removing her ski hat and placing it on the table in front of her. She then turned her head so that the back was facing me and I came face to face with a long row of stitches at the bottom of her head, "Do you promise not to tell Miley?"

I shook my head, "How can we not tell her?" I asked, louder than I had expected it to come out.

Lily cringed, "I want to be the one to tell her." She told me with a completely serious face.

"But you didn't even have to tell me," I whispered. "Were you even going to?" Lily shook her head.

I was shocked still, there was too much information being given right now and it was like a traffic jam in my head. I couldn't believe Lily kept it from us this long, but I agreed to not telling Miley. "As long as you tell her," I told Lily in a whisper. "I promise not to tell."


	43. Sorry guys, authors note

Alright guys,

So I was wondering whether it would be okay with you all if I postponed my post-a-thon to Friday? I'm so jetlagged from England – which is an 8 hour difference, and I've had to catch up on a few things AND it's my mom's birthday today so of course we had to make it perfect. Rest assured though, that I have been writing the story, and have LOADS and LOADS of new ideas that I cannot wait to get on paper – but unfortunately, I have no strength left even now at 7:00pm my time, to write. Sorry about that guys! But I do promise a post-a-thon on Friday and that is a complete and utterly true promise. And if it doesn't happen, which it won't…. you can chop my head off.

-Rosie


	44. Sleepy Head

Lily said nothing more, but rather nodded her head in agreement and then turned around so that she was no longer looking at me – Lily was avoiding my glance at all costs. From the way she turned her head I could see the back of her bare head clearly. Lily's hair was in two braids, as it had been styled for a while, but at the bottom of her head near her neck the hair was shaved, and I could see that the rest of her blond locks were getting thinner. The long scar that covered the space looked as if it was healing nicely, but I could tell that the stitches had only just been taken out. There was a line of deep red and surrounding it was a neat line of purple stitches. The skin around the scar was a pink colour – the scar was just hidden by her hat and that had been why I hadn't seen it before.

I started to say something to fill in the space in between us, but as I thought about it I'd decided Lily would probably no longer want to talk about her brain tumour. Instead, I sighed and picked up the book that had been lying out in open. I closed the book and placed it underneath the table where another shelf of books sat. As I was already up, I decided to pick up Lily's hat that had been placed there when Lily showed me her scar; I figured Lily might want to hide again. I slowly walked over to Lily, afraid that I might do something wrong, and placed the hat on her lap. She gave me a quick smile and then turned around to lie on the couch so that she was facing the pillows – there was nothing else I could do.

Mr. Stewart, who walked into the living room again after exiting while Lily confessed, came back into the room with a blanket and placed it on Lily who I now noticed, was shivering despite the warm Californian weather. Mr. Stewart smiled to me once he was done and mouthed _Lily's Fine, _as if he could read my mind. I nodded my head, even though I was still a little worried, and joined Miley's dad in the kitchen to get a drink of water.

"Miley still getting dressed?" I asked Miley's dad in a whisper so that I wouldn't wake Lily, who had fallen asleep once again. Mr. Stewart nodded his head.

"You might want to make yourself comfy," he added in his whisper, leaning in close to me so that he could lower his voice even more, "We'll be waiting in the car for Miley when it's time to go."

"Why's Miley so worried about how she's going to look anyhow?" I asked, peering at Lily quickly, "We're just going out to dinner."

Mr. Stewart shrugged his shoulders and took a drink from his cup – like me he didn't understand a girls mind. He and I were perfectly fine with going out to dinner in what we were wearing now. Lily, who was still dressed in her orange quarter sleeved shirt and jean capris, would probably think the same.

"How sick is she Mr. S?" I asked in a whisper that was so quiet even I could hardly hear it. But Mr. Stewart had understood.

"Honestly?" He asked me, motioning for me to sit down on a chair. I nodded, and propped my elbows up on the countertop to listen, "Lily's doing better, but doctors are worrying about whether the radiation therapy is working. If they continue the therapy, the brain tumour might get worse still. Lily's parents are talking to the hospital about starting Chemo instead, but then Lily will be out of school more and she needs to finish up the year."

"Finals aren't for another two months," I whispered back. "Lily can catch up on the work."

Mr. Stewart shrugged his shoulders and took another glance at Lily, "We'll have to see." He told me before he walked out of the kitchen and to his work space in the other room.

I sighed again, now that I was in silence. From the couch I could hear Lily take a breath in and then out, and then from outside I could hear a muffled version of Jackson and Cooper's conversation. They came through the door loudly, but I warned them to be quiet before they could wake Lily up.

"What time are you guys going out for dinner?" Jackson asked in a whisper as he and Cooper walked towards me.

I looked at my watch, "In about an hour." Jackson nodded and said nothing so I added, "What are you guys going to do tonight?"

"Watch a movie," Jackson told me. "And we're probably going to get a pizza."

"Mhm," Miley said loudly as she walked down the stairs – of course she didn't know Lily was asleep. "Pizza sounds really good right now." Simultaneously Jackson and I held up one finger to our lips to make Miley be quiet. When Miley noticed she looked over at Lily and nodded her head, she smiled at me and then went to get herself a soda from the fridge.

"Lily's been really tired today," Miley told us in a whisper as she came towards where we were all sitting. "Should we wake her up soon?"

I shrugged, "You'd have to ask you're dad."

Miley nodded, taking a sip of her coca-cola. She didn't budge from where she was; I guess Miley was going to let Lily sleep for a little bit longer – I agreed with this. The last thing we needed was a grumpy Lily. "I wonder what's making Lily so tired," Miley observed. _Radiation,_ I shrugged lying about what I knew.

Before I said anything else I checked to make sure Lily was breathing – in case. I sighed silently as Lily's chest rose and then fell as she took in a deep breath. "She probably stayed up late or something," I lied.

Miley and I had to wait another half an hour before Lily stirred awake. We were both sitting on the kitchen counter playing BS when Lily swung her legs over the side of the couch and looked over at us. I smiled, and Lily gave one back but didn't attempt to get up from the couch. I noticed that Lily shivered again, like she had when she'd first fallen asleep, and pulled the covers back over herself. I turned back to Miley who was just noticing Lily awake.

"Good afternoon sleepy head," Miley announced loudly, as she was now allowed to use anything above a whisper. "You ready to go to dinner, or do you want to get changed?"

Lily shrugged sleepily, "I just need to get a jacket." She told us in a raspy voice as she attempted to get up from the couch and failed. "But I can do that later on our way out the door."

Lily shrugged sleepily, "I just need to get a jacket." She told us in a raspy voice as she attempted to get up from the couch and failed. "But I can do that later on our way out the door."

"Better get moving then Lily," Miley's dad said as he came into the living room from his office. "We're going to leave in a second."

Lily nodded and pulled the covers tighter around herself as she got up from the couch – successfully this time, and scooted her socked feet across the wood flooring to her coat that was hanging up near the door. When Lily got to her coat, she wasted no time in-between taking the blanket off and putting her jacket on. Lily sighed and walked slowly to where Miley and I were still sitting.

"What time is it?" Lily asked painfully, grabbing the closest chair she could find.

I looked at my watch, "Almost five." I told Lily, and she groaned.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom," Lily announced. "Be right back."

I nodded and watched Lily go, slowly again, towards the bathroom around the corner.

"All ready to go?" Mr. Stewart asked walking into the room again, and picking up the keys from the kitchen table. He looked around, noticing Miley and I but also that Lily was missing. "Where's Lily?"

We pointed towards the bathroom just as Lily came out and the three of us made our way out of the door towards the car. Once we were all buckled in, Mr. Stewart started to drive the twenty minute distance to the restaurant – no one talked much, Lily was leaning on the door with her head supported by her hands, and Miley was writing something down, probably another song. I sighed, and smiled at the picture, all of us together again.


	45. Cheese Please

"We're here," Mr. Stewart sang as we pulled up to a large harbour. I looked around and saw that the restaurant was on the water, I hadn't expected that. Miley looked even more excited now, she was getting out of the car when I turned to Lily to find her asleep again. Mr. Stewart looked back at us, "I've got to get to the restaurant to get our table, see you in there?" I nodded, and as Mr. Stewart opened the car door to step out I poked Lily. She didn't budge, I poked her again. This time, to my relief, Lily moaned and turned around to face me.

"What do you want?" Lily asked me with glaring eyes. She didn't intimidate me, especially when she was half asleep. I pointed towards Miley who was out of the car and waiting for us, and beyond that you could see half the restaurant.

"We're here," I told her, unbuckling my seatbelt, and Lily doing the same. "Mr. Stewart and Miley are waiting for us." Lily sighed and picked herself up from where she was sitting and unbuckled herself. I got out of the car, and because Lily was going slower than I was, I had walked all the way over to her side of the car and opened the door.

"Thanks," Lily smiled to me weakly as she picked herself up and through the door. I took her hand to help Lily out and we both walked up to Miley, who was at the end of a long dock, slowly. Lily was quiet the whole time.

"Miley," I called out once we'd walked up next to her. "Are you ready to go into the restaurant?"

Miley turned to me, and nodded her head, then she walked into step in-between me and Lily until we got into the restaurant. Inside, we looked around for Mr. Stewart but when we looked he was nowhere to be found. I walked with Miley towards the hostess where Mr. Stewart should have been standing to get the table, but then he wasn't' there. Turned out, Mr. Stewart had gotten to our table already, sitting there with his hands crossed on the table and waiting for us. We all walked up and sat down in the three empty chairs on the other side of the table.

"What took you guys so long?" Miley's dad asked, straightening up as soon as we sat down and handing our menu's to us.

I shrugged, "We were down by the docks." I told Mr. Stewart as a half a lie. "Did you order yet?"

He shook his head, "I haven't been here this long." Miley's dad told us, waving the waitress towards us. "Are you guys ready?"

The three of us nodded our head, and told them to the waitress. Lily, Miley and I all ordered pop, of course, and Mr. Stewart with coffee. Once the waitress was gone, everyone seemed to calm down a little bit and relax.

"Why did the turkey cross the road?" I asked breaking the silence. I waited for a response, but Miley and Lily just looked at me with a questioning smile on their faces. Mr. Stewart just lay back again and crossed his arms across his chest. "Because he wasn't chicken," I laughed, no one got it but Lily, who always laughs.

"Alright," Lily said while at the same time was still laughing. "I've got one," we nodded, and Lily took a sip of her Sprite. "What's brown and sticky?"

Miley shrugged, "maple syrup?" She asked, Lily shook her head.

"Mud?" I asked but Lily shook her head again.

Now Lily was almost bursting with laughter, "a stick." She announced, Miley and I looked at each other. "Because it's brown and it's stick-y."

"Alright," Mr. Stewart interrupted the raging laughter that we were all in. Surprisingly enough, Miley and I both found the joke really funny for reasons that we didn't know. "What do you guys want to do when we get home?" Miley was about to say something, "After we get Lily's clothes unpacked."

"We'll watch some movies," Miley said with a confident look on her face, hoping that her dad would forget the fact that we had school tomorrow. "And we'll…"

"Stay up late," I added in.

Mr. Stewart sat back again and shook his head, "Try again." He told us and gave us a look.

"We'll watch some tv," Miley tried again. "And then go to bed as late as you let us?"

Mr. Stewart nodded this time, "There we go, you're getting closer." Miley smiled and picked up her menu, I did the same and looked for anything that wouldn't sound too fancy. Last time my parents and I were in New York City we went to a fancy restaurant and I ended up ordering frogs legs. I gagged at the though, and Lily looked over at me in question. "Are you going to school tomorrow Lily?" Mr. Stewart asked after we'd put all our menu's down.

Lily shrugged, "I'm still not feeling too well." She told my dad, who accepted her answer.

Immediately I wondered why she wasn't feeling well. I knew about the brain tumour now, so since I'd read the book while Miley was upstairs I knew, somewhat, about how Lily would feel. "Do you have a headache?" I asked, worried about the headache getting worse. Mr. Stewart reached into his jacket pocket and handed a white pain killers bottle to Lily. She accepted it, and tried to open the bottle but I noticed she was too weak and tired to do so. I helped out, receiving a small smile from Lily before she took two pills out and swallowed them with her water.

"Would you like to order your food now?" A waitress asked, just as Lily put her water down. She was holding her pad of paper up to write.

Mr. Stewart nodded and started the round of orders, "May I have the steak." He asked, "Medium rare, and boiled potatoes on the side." The waitress nodded, "Thank you."

Miley went next, as we went clockwise around the table, "May I have the cheeseburger please?" The waitress nodded again, and turned to me.

I looked down at my menu, I had a choice between two things, "May I have grilled cheese with American cheese please?" Lily snickered silently at the rhyme.

"May I have the tomato soup without the bread," the waitress nodded, and we all gave her our menus.

Once we got our food the table was silent, we'd grown a bit tired of telling jokes and instead played two truths and a lie, a game we'd been playing on the first day of school since grade 1. But as soon as the food was placed in front of us we gave up and instead ate. Mr. Stewart and I were the first to notice Lily wasn't eating as much, Miley didn't have a clue why but every so often she would look over. It turned out that Lily wasn't not eating her food, it was that she was eating it very slowly and was, in fact, the last one to finish. Mr. Stewart had already gotten the check by Lily's last spoonful.

"Good soup?" Mr. Stewart asked once she was done. Lily looked up, I noticed she looked a bit tired out, and nodded. "Good," Miley's dad responded, "Then we should get back to the house."


	46. Perfect World

**Robbie Ray's POV:**

The kids were quiet on the way home, Lily had fallen asleep again almost instantly as we stepped into the car, and Oliver was just about there. Miley and I were the only ones that were still wide awake – which was good in my case, because I was driving the car.

We got out of the restaurant at 9:30 and the car ride home had taken half an hour, so by the time we were home and parked in the driveway it was starting to get late – and I could guarantee that Miley was going to drop off like the others in no time. When I looked back at the seat where Lily and Oliver were sitting I found Oliver awake, but not Lily. I looked over at Miley, who shrugged her shoulders and got out of the car as quietly as she could. Oliver did the same, and I followed walking towards Lily's car door and getting down picking her up in my arms. Once Lily was in my arms comfortably Oliver, Miley and I walked slowly towards the house, all of us sleepy, and into the living room where I found Jackson and Cooper asleep in their pajamas, surrounded by a mess of junk food they'd spread out in front of the television.

"I'll be back," I whispered to Miley and Oliver as I walked up the stairs to the guest room across from Miley's room. This was where Lily was going to stay for the next few weeks until her parents got back on their feet. It was unfortunate that both her mom and dad had to take these business trips – if they had the choice, they wouldn't. I placed Lily on the bed and underneath the covers, Lily didn't stir once. "Good night," I whispered to her before I walked to the door frame and turned the light off. "Sweet dreams," My response, before I left the room completely, was a deep breath in and then out that made a whistling sound with her nose. I smiled and made my way down the stairs.

"Lily still asleep?" Miley asked when I got down there, I nodded. "I guess I should be getting to bed as well," she yawned. "What are we going to do about Oliver?"

I looked at Oliver for the first time since we'd arrived at the house, I'd almost forgotten that he was here. "He can take the other guest room for the night," I told Oliver and Miley, pointing in the direction of the room; upstairs and the fourth door to the left after Lily's. "I'll call your parents and explain the situation, and then I can drive you and Miley to school tomorrow morning."

"Thanks Mr. S," Oliver whispered, and I realized that Jackson and Cooper were still asleep on the couch, "Good night."

"Good night Oliver," I whispered, "you can borrow some of Jackson's pajamas if you want." Oliver nodded, and walked up the stairs. Miley walked up to me, her eyes were dropping now and she pulled me into a hug, "good night Miley, sweet dreams," I told her as I kissed her head.

"Good night dad," she whispered, and followed Oliver up the stairs to her own bedroom.

Now all I had to figure out was what to do with Jackson and Cooper. Waking them up was an obvious option, so that was the first thing I did, but it was easier said than done. First I tried shaking Jackson awake, and then I tried to poke them until at least one woke up, but neither technique worked. I tried the classics, like pouring water on them, and yelling in their ears. Eventually, I got an air mattress out of the closet, and blew it up. I moved the coffee table and all the junk on top, and placed the mattress there so that I could roll Cooper off of the couch and onto somewhere where he would be more comfortable. This was easier, and when I was satisfied with my job well done, I went to pick up the trash they'd left for me and put it all in the garbage. Once this was all done I was well tired, and turned off all of the lights to the living room and kitchen and made my way towards my own bedroom down the hall. I slept with out interruption.

The next morning though I ended up waking up at 5a.m to get Jackson and Cooper ready for school. Unlike last night where it was impossible to wake them up, this morning was much easier and all I had to do was say their names.

"Jackson," I whispered in attempt not to wake anyone else up. "It's time to get up for school." Jackson groaned but opened his eyes and turned on the light near to the couch.

"What's for breakfast dad?" Jackson asked, I shrugged my shoulders and Jackson got up from the couch to walk to the kitchen.

"Cooper," I whispered to the teenager sleeping on the air mattress, he opened his eyes and immediately closed them again. "It's time to get up for school," I tried again. This time Cooper got up completely and joined Jackson in the kitchen – who was now pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

"Did you have a fun time at the restaurant Mr. Stewart?" Cooper asked, while pouring himself a bowl of cereal. I nodded, "Thank you for letting me sleep over."

"You're welcome Cooper," I whispered, still half asleep myself. "Did you two have a fun night?"

Jackson and Cooper nodded and said nothing else while they ate their cereal. As they did so I turned around to make myself some coffee only to be interrupted by footsteps coming down the staircase. I was half expecting Miley, but still wasn't surprised when Lily showed up. Lily was just how I left her in her room, but it looked like she'd gotten up in the night and changed her pants because now she was wearing striped flannel pj pants. Her hair was messed up to the point where her hat was about to fall off, and sleep plastered Lily's face.

"Mr. Stewart," she mumbled, I could tell Lily was feeling sick just by the tone in her voice. "Do you have anything that could settle my stomach? I feel like I'm going to throw up."

I nodded, and reached up to the cupboard above my coffee machine to grab the medicine. Sleepily still I walked over to give it to Lily, "Take two and it should do the trick," I instructed her. Lily did so, and thanked me before she walked over to the airbed and feel asleep again. I laughed silently and turned back to making my coffee. In no time flat I could hear Lily's breathing even up again, she'd fallen asleep.

"How does she do it?" Jackson whispered, looking at Lily asleep on the bed. "The moment her head hits a pillow, it's good night Lily."

"She's just tired is all," I whispered back. Jackson nodded and turned back to his cereal. "I've got to drive you both to school soon," I told Cooper and Jackson, looking at the large grandfather clock we had in the kitchen. "You should be getting ready." Both boys nodded and got up from the table. I took their dirty dishes and placed them in the dishwasher, and turned around to get my finished coffee.

I was only half way through when the boys came back into the kitchen, "we're ready." Jackson whispered and headed towards the door where he and Cooper walked out into the car ready for me. At this moment I wished Jackson's car hadn't broken down.


	47. School Bells

When I arrived back at home I'd expected to come back to a quiet house. Lily was still sleeping on the couch still, and I'd hoped that Oliver and Miley were still in their rooms. Of course with my unfortunate luck, when I walked through the door and into the kitchen there were Oliver and Miley sitting on two chairs, eating from the cereal box that Jackson had left out.

"Good morning daddy," Miley whispered when I passed by them. I nodded, and grabbed another cup of coffee.

"Good morning bud," I whispered back. "Good morning Oliver, do you two know what time it is?"

Miley shrugged her shoulders, and Oliver sleepily looked at him watch – I'd figured Miley woke him up.

"Miley," Oliver groaned once he'd figured out what time it. "Do you always have to do this to me?"

Miley shook her head, "I don't know what you're talking about." She told him with a smile, of course Miley knew that she had woken Oliver up at 6:30 in the morning, despite the fact that school didn't start until 8:00.

I was about to stop Oliver and Miley from saying anything else, when the phone rang. In attempts to have the ringing not wake Lily up I grabbed it quickly and took the wireless into another room.

"Hello?" I whispered into the receiver, "Stewart's residence."

"Good morning Mr. Stewart," a cheerful lady's voice came through. "Is there a Lily Truscott there?" I told her yes, and she continued, "This is her nurse Betsy, I just wanted to tell you that radiation is cancelled for today and that chemotherapy will be starting tomorrow at 11:30."

"So can Lily go to school today?" I asked.

"If she feels up to it," the nurse responded. "Thank you for you're time, but I must be going. We'll see you and Lily later." I nodded and hung up the phone in the kitchen, wondering how the heck that nurse could've been that happy at this time in the morning.

"Who was on the phone?" Miley asked when I grabbed the cereal box and took a handful of cocoa pops. I didn't answer at first, drinking my coffee as an excuse.

"Just a telemarketer," I told her, lying as I went along. "I like to lead them on, and then quickly hang up just and they think they've got me."

Miley laughed quietly, "I can't believe you." I shrugged, "that's a very mean thing to do."

"Well," I whispered back, taking more cereal. "They shouldn't have been calling this early in the morning in the first place." Miley nodded, and went to go get the milk in the fridge.

"Who was really on the phone Mr. S?" Oliver asked once Miley was too far away to hear what we were talking about. I shook my head, and said nothing, "hmm." Oliver said to himself, "who would call this early in the morning – besides a telemarketer?"

I noticed Miley coming closer to us, "Alright you got me Oliver." I told him, laughing. "It was my mother ship, they want me back on the moon by Tuesday."  
Miley laughed, and poured some milk into a cup for both her and Oliver. When she was done, Miley went upstairs to get ready for school, and close behind her Oliver followed as he too went to change. I was left in quiet again, and so I went to go sit down on the couch – avoiding the air mattress that was placed right beside it so that I didn't wake Lily up. I sat down with little trouble, and picked up a magazine on the table so that I could read. But I was soon interrupted.

"Top of the morning to you Mr. Stewart," Lily mumbled, turning over so that she was facing me. Sleep was still evident in her face, though she was quick to fix her hair and to cover up her half exposed scar. "Would you be kind enough to tell me the time?"

"6:45," I told Lily, who groaned and sat up on her elbows. "The doctor says you don't have to go in for radiation today." Lily perked up a little, "but you start chemo tomorrow."

Lily groaned again, "just great." She whispered half to herself, "and I thought radiation was bad."

I laughed, "We'll get through this together." I whispered to her, "And don't forget you have Oliver to lean on now."

Lily nodded, and lay back down on her pillow, looking up at the ceiling and avoiding contact with me. "So what are we going to do today?" Lily asked.

I shrugged, "Well there are choices." Lily nodded, continuing to look at the ceiling. "You can go to school, we can get the rest of your homework done, I'll go rent some movies and we can sit on our buts all day, or you can come with me to set up the concert hall for Ms. Hannah Montana."

Lily considered each choice, waiting a while before giving me her answer, "I want to help you set up the concert hall," Lily told me, now turning her head so that she was looking at me. "Where's the concert?"

"Santa Monica," I told Lily just as she turned her head up again. "It should take too long to get there."

"Half an hour," Lily whispered. "I know – what time are we going to leave?"

I shrugged, having not figured that out earlier on. "We'll leave at 12:30," I told Lily. "We wouldn't want to leave too early, because then the movers won't be there. But we've got to pick up some food for backstage."

Lily nodded and she turned her head towards the other side of the room, "What's for breakfast?" She asked, sitting up on her elbows again. I noticed that Miley and Oliver had left their cereal box out and just sitting there.

"You can have anything," I shrugged, getting up from my chair as I said this. Lily shook her head, and I sat back down.

"I'm not hungry right now," Lily whispered to me.

I nodded and waited again for Lily to speak. But when she didn't I looked over, Lily had fallen asleep again. I smiled at the picture and listened as Miley and Oliver came down the stairs again. Both were dressed and ready for school but it was only 7:00, and they had a little more than 45 minutes to lose. Miley smiled as she noticed I was on the couch, and came to sit down next to me.

"I have to go in early for a math test," Miley whispered to me when she realized that Lily was still asleep. "Oliver's going to come too, so can you drive us?"

I nodded, and whispered back, "Get in the car." I told Miley and Oliver, who had come up beside the couch. "I'll be right there, I'm just going to drag Lily up and get her dressed."


	48. 24 Hours

Miley nodded and Oliver followed her outside to the car where I heard the engine turn on. I turned to Lily again, feeling guilty about what I was about to do because she'd only fallen asleep a couple of minutes ago.

"Lily?" I whispered into her ear, hoping that was going to be enough to wake her up. "Are you awake? I need to drive Miley and Oliver to school and I don't want to leave you alone." Lily groaned, she was awake now I knew that. "Come on," I whispered again. "All we have to do is drive them to school and then go to the grocery store."

Lily turned around and swung her feet over the edge of the mattress, "How long are we going to take?" She asked, I shrugged my shoulders and she flattened out her hair before walking upstairs to her guest room where I had already unpacked for her.

"Thanks for unpacking for me," Lily said when she walked back downstairs – dressed now in her ripped jeans and an oversized purple zip up jacket. "it was really nice of you," I nodded, and helped Lily out the door and into the car where Miley and Oliver were sitting, Lily got the back with Oliver.

When I got into the front to drive, Miley looked up at me with a smile – I knew what she was thinking but Lily wasn't going to school with her today. I shook my head, and Miley shrugged her shoulders before turning her head to look out the window. It was unusually early for Oliver, so he was quiet this morning, and the car had nothing but music on during the car ride up to the school.

"Thanks dad," Miley said once she'd opened the door and gotten her backpack out. "See you later, love you!"

Oliver nodded and waved goodbye to Lily and I and both shut the door leaving us. I turned around to face Lily, who surprisingly hadn't fallen asleep during the ride.

"Grocery store next?" She asked me. I nodded, and she turned her head, like Miley had, towards the window until we got to the closest market. We both got out, and I got the cart to carry all of the food we would be buying, and we walked into the market slowly. I took out my list and looked at it, reading what Miley had written down without my knowing, and what Jackson had added, and what I'd added when the doctor told me what Lily should be eating. I headed towards the cereal isle to start, and Lily followed behind me.

"Would you like to get the ice pops?" I turned around to face Lily, she nodded and went off on her own before I started to walk down the isle again. I picked up the cheerio's, cocoa pops, and frosted flakes, adding Raisin nut bran as my own choice. When I was done with that, I walked over to the next isle, where I'd sent Lily ten minutes ago for popsicles. As I approached the isle I noticed a bunch of people at the end, huddled up in one group, but I thought nothing of it. Instead, I opened the door to the fridge and picked up Miley's favourite pops. I looked around twice trying to find Lily, but when I couldn't I walked to the end of the isle again, walking past the group that was now growing larger. I looked inside the group to see what all the commotion was about and found Lily on the floor shaking uncontrollably, a Popsicle box half way out of her left hand.

"Lily," I whispered at first. "Lily!" I ran into the group, clearing everyone away so that I could get to where she was. Everyone cleared away pretty fast after they realized how I was related to her, but then again there were a few people that had chosen to stay and see if Lily was alright. I held Lily in my arms until she had stopped shaking – though it lasted five minutes. When Lily stopped, I continued to hold her in my lap, and waited until the people who had stayed were gone. "Are you alright?" I asked Lily, I was so scared. Lily stared at me and said nothing, slowly she nodded her head and then her eyes dropped.

I carried Lily through the grocery market and still managed to wheel the chart up to the check out and get help to bring the bags to the car. Once that was all done, I placed Lily in the back of the car so that she could lie down and I drove home, dialling Lily's doctor on my mobile.

"Hello Dr. Chow speaking," Lily's doctor's heavy Chinese accent came over the phone suddenly. "How may I help you?"

"Hi this is Robbie Ray Stewart," I said hoping that he would remember who I was. "My daughter's friend Lily Truscott is a patient of yours."

"Oh," Dr. Chow said, "I remember you. Is everything okay Mr. Stewart?"

I shook my head, but then remembered that Dr. Chow could see me do so, "I think Lily had a seizure." I told him calmly. "We were in the grocery market and I told Lily to get the popsicles in the other isle, and then when I went back to get her she was shaking violently." Now I was starting to get less calm as my mind realized what happened.

"Did Lily fall and injure herself?" Dr. Chow asked, he was much calmer than I was and it made me calm too. "How long did the seizure last for?"

I thought about it, "The seizure lasted for about five minutes," I told Dr. Chow. "And I don't think Lily fell from a great distance, I wasn't there to witness it."

"Lily should be fine," Dr. Chow reassured me. "Just keep a close eye on her and lay her down when you get home. Lily will be tired from the seizure and will sleep for a sizable amount of time." I nodded and said thank you and goodbye before I hung up the phone and concentrated on the road ahead.

When we got home, I picked Lily up again – I noticed now that Lily had become considerably lightweight and fragile looking due to the cancer. I noted that I would get her to eat a proper lunch once Lily woke up, as I placed her on the couch again – I noticed now that Lily had become considerably lightweight and fragile looking due to the cancer. I noted that I would get her to eat a proper lunch once Lily woke up, as I placed her on the couch again. It was another hour before Lily woke up again; I'd had lunch ready and out of the table by that time, but Lily woke up irritable.

"You want some lunch?" I asked when I heard Lily stir. She shook her head, "Alright then I'll bring it to you."

Lily stared me down when I brought her food to the table, she seemed a little bit drowsy still but she could sure give you a look. Regardless Lily sat up and swung her legs around so that they were touching the floor; I sat down next to her.

"Thanks," Lily whispered as she picked up her fork and took on of the carrots on its prong. She twirled with out and eventually took a small bite out of it. "When do we leave for the concert hall?"

"Half an hour," I told her taking a bite out of my sandwich. "But do you think you're up to it?"

Lily nodded and sighed, sitting back into the pillow, "I'm fine." She mumbled, and brought her knees up to the couch. "I can deal with setting up equipment for one afternoon, besides – am I going to be allowed to go to Hannah's concert tonight?"

I hesitated, and shook my head, "I'm sorry Lily." Lily grumbled in response, "Eventually, just not tonight."

Lily nodded slowly and got up from the couch, taking her full plate back into the kitchen and then walking upstairs to her room before coming back down with a book in her hands. "Sometime to do," She told me when she sat down on the couch again. "Is it time to leave yet?"

I shook my head, "Soon though."

Lily was silent for another ten minutes before she spoke again, "whose staying with me tonight?" She asked curiously.

I shrugged, I hadn't thought of that before. "Jackson," I told her, getting up from the couch. "He'll probably be willing." Lily nodded, and I helped her up from the couch, taking the book from her hands and holding it in mine while we walked to the car.


	49. Just a quicky authors note

To Whom It May Concern:

I'm going to post tonight, just not right now. I started school today, woo and hoo, and have kickboxing with my sister tonight. I've written part of the story, but again I'm stuck. The ideas I have in mind are for later chapters and aren't to be used now. If you have any ideas – please please please post them and I'll keep an open mind,

Thank you,

-Rosie


	50. Frisbee

We arrived at the concert hall in Santa Monica, after a long and quiet drive, just as the movers were bringing in the speakers and microphones. Lily and I got in quickly, unlike the onlookers outside the front door, and when we got to the stage I led Lily to the speakers being set up, I motioned for her to sit in front of the microphone, as I watched the movers hook wires together.  
"Say something into the microphone," I instructed Lily, who was standing there staring at the rows and rows of seats. Lily turned to me, with one eyebrow turned up, "say something, so that we know the microphone is working."   
Lily nodded and tapped the microphone before she said, "Test 1-2-3." I shook my head; nothing was coming out of the speakers. The movers attached another wire to the speaker and I nodded for Lily to try again. "Can you hear me now?" I shook my head. "What about now?"  
I nodded this time; the speakers were working fine, "Alright." I told Lily as she walked away from the microphone. "Now we've got to talk with Hannah's choreographer, wait until Jackson drives Hannah and Oliver here after school and run a sound check." Lily nodded, and the both of us sat down on the front row seats just in front of the stage. We'd have to wait another two hours before Miley and Oliver came, and now we had to wait for the choreographer, Ms. Greyer.   
"Good afternoon," Ms. Greyer came in with a large smile of her face. She held out her hand to shake mine, and then noticed Lily. "Who's this Mr. Montana?"  
I gestured for Lily to come up to my side and when she did I put my arm around her and said, "This is Hannah's best friend Lily." Lily smiled and said hello before she went back to her seat. "Do you mind waiting here for a little bit, Ms. Greyer and I have to go elsewhere." Lily nodded, and turned away to watch the movers on stage.

**Lily's POV:**

Mr. Stewart was gone for almost half an hour until he came back and sat down next to me. He said something to me, but I ignored it and refused to turn around to face Miley's dad. I had a pounding headache, one that I was trying to ignore as well as Mr. Stewart, and the rash on my arms and neck were started to itch, but I was trying not to scratch them.

"What do you want to do until they get here?" Mr. Stewart asked, for the second time, to they he was referring to was Miley, Oliver and Jackson. I shrugged, "We've got about an hour and a half, there's got to be something." I shook my head, "Why don't we just walk to the beach?"

I shrugged, the beach was just outside the arena, but I didn't know whether I wanted to go or not. "I guess we could go for a little bit."

Mr. Stewart nodded, turned me around and took my hand leading me out the door of the arena and to the beach that was just ahead of us. We were silent the entire way, as we walked up and down the sidewalk. Again, Miley's dad was the first to try and start a talk.

"Want to play Frisbee?" He asked, holding up a Frisbee he'd had hidden behind his back. I shrugged but Mr. Stewart didn't seem to care. "Alright then, we'll play."

I laughed, and ran towards the other direction so that we were as far apart as possible. I yelled for Mr. Stewart to throw the Frisbee. "Throw it," I said into the wind, but Mr. Stewart who was turned around the other way didn't hear. "Mr. S! Are you going to turn around?" I yelled again.

This time Miley's dad heard me and faced my way, throwing the Frisbee as hard as he could, only to have it reach about half way.

This time Miley's dad heard me and faced my way, throwing the Frisbee as hard as he could, only to have it reach about half way.

I ended up laughing harder, ultimately forgetting about my problems. "Is that as good as it's going to get?" I yelled, because this was the only way Mr. Stewart could hear me from where he was standing. He held up his hand to his ear, so I yelled louder, "Bring your game Mr. S, is it me or do you suck at throwing a Frisbee."

Mr. Stewart laughed and ran towards the Frisbee half way between us, he stayed where it landed and threw it the rest of the way to me. I'd been playing Frisbee with Blake since she decided to learn on her fourth birthday in October – so I was much better than Mr. Stewart was. I ended up having to run for his throws, almost all the way down to the water one time, and then back to the sidewalk again. Unfortunately it wasn't long before I could no longer ignore my headache and my aching muscles. I decided to sit down on the closest bench until I could catch my breath again, I'd become so out of shape.

"It's almost time for Miley, Oliver and Jackson to arrive," Mr. Stewart told me, sitting down next to me on the bench; he noticed the state I was in and turned to me. "Are you all right?"

I rolled my eyes; of course since I'd had a seizure this morning Mr. Stewart was going to go all protective on me. "I'm fine," I told him through breaths; I noticed they were getting shorter. "Just out of shape – comes with the cancer I guess."


	51. Below Zero

Mr. Stewart went silent, and I immediately shut up, I didn't have the breath to talk again. "Do you want to back inside?" Miley's dad asked me after a while, I nodded and we headed towards the arena.

When we were about half way through the parking lot, we were surprised to find Jackson, Miley and Oliver standing there waiting for us. They all came into step with Mr. Stewart and I but followed our lead when it came to being quiet; they knew we were quiet for a reason.

Once we were in the arena, Miley, or Hannah, hardly had time to talk before she was whisked away by the stage manager. I shrugged, and looked around at the arena, now more decorated since Mr. Stewart and I went out to the beach, and looking close to done. I started to move towards the seats in the front row, not realizing that Oliver, who was standing next to me when we entered, would follow. I looked behind me at the last minute before I sat down and gave him a slight smile, also noticing that Mr. Stewart and Jackson were gone as well.

"How was your day?" Oliver asked once we were settled. I shrugged and said nothing; I was still kind of out of breath and a little cold. "Do you want me to get you a blanket?" Oliver asked, trying again. I nodded, not noticing that it was obvious that I was shivering.

For a brief moment Oliver went away and then came back with a huge blanket that I would recognize in an instant as the one from Miley's dressing room. "Thank you," I whispered when he put it over me, welcoming the heat and finally calming down from shivering. I turned to Oliver, who was sitting next to me and brought my knees up to my chest underneath the blanket. "How was school?"

Oliver shrugged, "It was okay." He told me, "We've got a lot of homework to get finished, but at least tomorrow's Friday." I laughed and nodded my head. "Are you coming to school tomorrow?"

I thought about it, and was about to say yes before I realized that Mr. Stewart had said I had chemo tomorrow during school hours. "I can't," I told Oliver with a cough. "Next week though, I promise."

Oliver nodded, "Is everything okay with… with the – tumour and everything?"

"Yeah," I whispered, forgetting that Oliver knew anything. "My doctors just trying another form of treatment."

"Oh," Oliver said, looking at the ground between his feet. "I wish I could be there with you, to help."

I nodded so did I. It was nice having Mr. Stewart with me, and he was very helpful when I needed him, but having Oliver with me would help me a lot. "Maybe one day, but probably not tomorrow."

I told Oliver, and then added, "I wish you were there with me too."

Oliver looked up from the floor and smiled at me, but I looked away and at the stage where Miley and her dad were talking to the stage manager. Miley waved quickly, but turned back before I got a chance to wave back. I could tell from the corner of my eye that Oliver was still looking at me, but I refused to look back. So instead I put the hood of my sweatshirt over my head to keep me warm and tried to wrap myself more in the covers as I listened to Hannah's band practice. Before I knew it I was shivering again, and my hands and feet were so cold that I could hardly feel them any more. I tried to hide it as best as I could, but I knew that Oliver already knew.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked again, trying to talk above the loud music. I nodded my head so that Oliver could see and hid myself more into the covers. "Maybe we should move to Hannah's dressing room, it's warmer in there."

I shook my head, but Oliver took my hand anyway and led me backstage. I noticed that Mr. Stewart realized immediately what we were doing and walked backstage to meet us. Surely enough, he was at the door of the dressing room waiting.

"You okay Lily?" He asked when he also noticed I was shivering. I nodded my head, "Go and lay down on the couch and I'll put the heat up, maybe we shouldn't have gone to the beach today." Miley's dad said the last bit more to himself than to me. I almost regretted going backstage and giving in to Oliver until I went into the dressing room and actually felt how warm the air was. I was ready to take off my blanket, or my sweatshirt, but it was definitely a good change.

"Better?" Oliver asked once we were in the room alone and sitting on the couch together – my legs on his lap so that I could lie down. I nodded, "Good."

I tried to fall asleep again, but after sleeping for so long during the day it was almost impossible. So instead, I listened to Miley singing in the background and ended up daydreaming until Oliver said anything else.

"When are your parents coming home?" He asked quietly.

I looked at Oliver and shrugged, truth be told I hadn't thought of that for the last few hours. "I guess they've got another two weeks out there," I told Oliver with the only knowledge I knew about the subject. "So," I whispered, propping myself up on my elbows and looking at Oliver. "What do you want to do until Ms. Hannah Montana's done?"

Oliver shrugged and looked around the dressing room and sighed, "We could just talk."

I nodded and went back down so that my head was resting on the pillow, "What do you want to talk about?"

Oliver shifted in his seat and moved my legs around before settling back down, "Are you going to the concert tonight?"

I shook my head, and turned my head so that I could see Oliver from where I was laying, "Unfortunately not, are you?"

Oliver nodded, "I was invited, but it won't be as fun without you." I cracked a smile, but turned away before Oliver could see it. "But we'll see each other this weekend right?"

I nodded, remembering what I was told, "But I can't go to the beach, or do anything to strenuous."

"Oh," Oliver laughed, "So there are rules? That's no fun."

"We could watch movies, make some yummy foods, play board games," I listed off activities. "What about…"

"Alright," Oliver laughed again, stopping me. "I get it, we'll do something fun without getting you in trouble."

"Good," I said, pulling the covers over me even more as I feel myself shiver. I shifted in my seat, and tried to get up so that I was sitting up with my legs crossed, but my back with aching now and I had a headache again. "Do you know when the rehearsals going to end?"

Oliver shrugged, "Shouldn't be that long now." He told me, looking at him watch. Oliver looked at me and smiled. "Want to go back out to the arena, or are you still freezing?"

I shook my head, "I think I'm ready to go back." I lied, and Oliver got up before reaching out his hand to help me. I hesitated in giving him my hand; I already knew it was freezing cold just like the rest of my body, but in the end I let him help me up.

Oliver jumped at the touch of my hand, "Gosh!" He almost yelled, helping me up the rest of the way. "Could your hands be any colder?" I took my hand away from Oliver as fast as I could, but it wasn't quick enough. Oliver took my hand again and kept it there as we walked out and back into our seats in the front row of the arena, "They any warmer yet?"


	52. Fire and Poison

An hour later I was forced home by Mr. Stewart while Miley put on another sound check just before the ticket holders were about to come in. We walked to our car that several other cars were now surrounding and a long line of children were blocking our way to the exit.

"Today was fun," I told Mr. Stewart as he continued to concentrate on the road. "Well, for the most part."

Mr. Stewart laughed, turning onto the interstate back home, "Yeah it's definitely been fun. I'm glad you've enjoyed yourself." I nodded, and Mr. Stewart turned to me for a brief second. "Are you still cold?"

I shrugged, looking down at the sweatshirt I had on that barely kept the heat in. Oliver and I had had to return Hannah's blanket just before I left, and truthfully I was still freezing. "I'm fine," I lied.

Without looking, Mr. Stewart took my hand in his, "Liar." He said raising one of his eyebrows while turning on the heat. "I think we might have to talk to the doctors about this tomorrow at the hospital."

"But," I tried. "I'm fine, I just happen to get cold sometimes."

"In April?" Mr. Stewart asked, "This is California, not Connecticut." I shrugged, Mr. Stewart was right, but I was too stubborn to admit it out loud. "We'll get you in front of the television, with pizza, and wrapped up in blankets, sound good?"

I thought about it for a moment and nodded my head slowly before I turned back to look out the window. In my rear view mirror I could see Jackson and his car riding behind us, he waved and I smiled. Soon enough Mr. Stewart turned onto our road and I could see the house in clear view. We pulled up in the driveway silently, and Mr. Stewart waited until Jackson got out of his car before we all walked up to the door and went into the house. The living room was still a mess with the mattress Cooper had slept on, and the blankets Jackson had thrown over the couch. I walked to the kitchen, turned around and went up the stairs without saying a word. I went into my room next door to Miley's, and changed from my jeans and sweatshirt to a layered long sleeved shirt, another sweatshirt, and my yoga pants, and then went back downstairs with a book I'd found from the bookshelf in my room.

"I've got to get back to the concert hall," Mr. Stewart said as I sat down on the couch where Jackson had already turned on the television. Miley's dad placed a tray of milk and cookies in front of us, and hugged us both, "I'll see you guys later." He said, "Don't stay up too late, we have a lot to do tomorrow Lily."

I nodded and waved goodbye to Mr. Stewart who was walking towards the door and outside again, "Bye." Jackson and I said at the same time, "Have fun!"

Once we heard the click of the door closing, Jackson turned grabbed a couple of cookies and practically inhaled them. I laughed, and he turned the television up a little louder as I snuggled into the covers a little more. "I should be getting the rest of my homework done," Jackson said to facing me, and throwing the remote into my lap. "I'll be done in about an hour, call if you need anything."

I nodded and whispered goodbye to Jackson as he walked to his room with his backpack that had been in the corner of the living room. I sighed to myself, and turned the television off, moving the tray of cookies away and lying down on the couch and eventually falling asleep – because next thing I knew, I was being woken up by Miley, and her dad coming through the door.

"Sorry," Mr. Stewart whispered, I looked around and noticed it was now dark, and that Jackson had placed another blanket over me. "We're just passing through, go back to bed." I nodded, too sleepy to respond, and fell back asleep.

I was woken up again the next morning, when Miley, Oliver and Mr. Stewart were in the kitchen – I presumed that Oliver had been dropped off at the house earlier this morning so that Miley and Oliver could go to school tomorrow.

"Good morning sleepy head," Oliver sang as I lifted my head up from my pillow. "Do you want any breakfast?" Oliver held up his bowl of cereal.

I shook my head, "Not very hungry." I sighed, laying my head back down on my pillow. "Do you guys have school today?" I asked, noticing that it was lighter than it should be outside for the hour at which school started.

Miley shook her head, "School got cancelled." I shot up, and turned around so that my head was resting on my hands. "The first floor caught on fire last night, and they couldn't use half of the classrooms."

"Oh," I laughed both glad that they had the day off, and worried. "So what are you going to do today?"

Oliver shrugged, "Jackson's taking Miley shopping this afternoon." I nodded, Oliver had a plan and I knew it, "Knowing Miley they'll probably be out all day." Miley hit Oliver's arm in defence, and Oliver cried out in pain, moving to the couch where I was now sitting up, and sitting next to me.

"I won't be out all day," Miley argued, sitting on the mattress that was still on the living room floor. "Maybe we could go see a movie tonight or something."

I shook my head, "I can't." I told Miley, who seemed surprised by my decline. "I'm still a little sick," I told Miley's questioning face. "I've only been home a couple of days, and the doctors said it could take another week for me to be me again." I clearly lied through half of that, but Miley didn't realize, instead she shrugged her shoulders and continued to talk about something else.

It actually wasn't that long until Jackson came downstairs, "Do you want to get moving now Miles?" He asked, pointing towards the outdoors.

Miley nodded and got up from her seat, "I'll see you later guys." She said before walking towards the door, "Do you want anything Lily?"

I shook my head, and Miley left completely, leaving Oliver and I to our quiet.

"Alright Lily," Mr. Stewart walked in, cutting through the silence. "Are you ready to get to the hospital?" Mr. Stewart turned to Oliver, "Are you coming?"

Oliver nodded, and we all got into the car, and drove the familiar path to the outpatient entrance of Century City Hospital. It wasn't hard to get past the front desk, and it wasn't a long wait for the nurse to call my name. Worried, I was placed on a hard bed in an isolated room, Oliver on my side squeezing my hand as the nurse put the IV into my vein. He reassured me, saying that it was alright, and that it would be over soon, but I soon found out that the insertion isn't the worst part. In no time, I felt like poison was being dropped into my vein, each time the chemo would drip it would burn. I closed my eyes for the first couple of times, squeezing Oliver's hand so hard that he almost yelped in pain, but eventually I sort of got used to it and the burning didn't seem so bad. Unfortunately, no one prepared me for how nauseous I felt half way through, it was as if I was going to throw up but it just wouldn't come out. The nurse standing by, held a tin pot for me, it was what I was supposed to throw up in – and eventually had, four times. I thought that once the therapy was over, and the IV was removed from the fold of my arm, that I was going to feel better – but it just seemed as if the symptoms were growing worse. The moment I tried to stand I was too weak to hold myself up, Oliver and Mr. Stewart had to hold me by the arms to lead me to the car, and the whole way home I constantly felt nauseous still. So far, through the pounding headache, nausea and how weak I felt even when I got home, I was not, whatsoever, enjoying chemotherapy.


	53. Aftermath

Once we were in the house, Oliver and Mr. Stewart dumped me on the couch. I moaned in pain as I felt a sharp pain go through my stomach.

"Are you alright?" Oliver asked in a rush, as he sat down on the floor in front of the couch. He moved my hair from my face and asked again, "Lily, please tell me – are you alright?"

I nodded, and pointed towards the kitchen where Mr. Stewart had placed a big bowl. Oliver knew immediately what I meant, and ran for it, coming back just as I threw up into the bowl. Oliver held my hair back and rubbed my back as I threw up again, and helped me lay back down on the couch before getting a glass of water in the kitchen. I groaned in pain again as Oliver picked me up to drink the water he'd brought.

"Thanks Oliver," I whispered, because that was all I could do now. "Sorry about that," I said pointing to the bowl half full of throw up.

Oliver shrugged and moved the bowl to the kitchen, bringing it back clean, "You don't have to be sorry about anything Lily." I nodded weakly and Oliver helped me down to my pillow again. "Are you feeling a little better now?"

I shook my head, gagging some as I pulled the covers over my feet. "Could you get my medicine for me?" I asked Oliver when I was settled. Oliver nodded and walked into the kitchen and opened the drawer where Mr. Stewart kept my pill case. He took out the four pills I had to take and brought them back to me. "Thanks," I whispered again, swallowing the pills.

"You're welcome," Oliver told me, grabbing my hand and getting up. "I think you should get some sleep," He told me, "I'll leave you to it; tell me if you need anything."

I nodded, and turned around to face to other side of the couch. I felt Oliver get up and walk to the kitchen, and open the fridge, and then next thing I knew I was asleep.

**Oliver's POV:**

As soon as I heard Lily's breathing even, I knew she was asleep. I watched her for a little while longer, to make sure she wasn't going to suddenly wake up and need to use the bowl again, but when she didn't I made my way to Mr. Stewart's office to which he had retreated to ten minutes ago.

"Lily asleep?" Mr. Stewart asked when I walked in, it scared my at first because he wasn't facing me.

"Yep," I announced, taking one last look at Lily before I walked to Mr. Stewart. "She threw up twice already, and she can hardly lift herself up."

Miley's dad turned around in his chair, so that he was facing me. I noticed now that he was holding a book that he'd probably been reading, "It's normal." Mr. Stewart told me, "Is she still shivering?"

I shook my head, and Mr. Stewart turned around to face his computer again. "Do you think we should feed Lily?" I asked curiously, "I mean she hasn't eaten all day."

Mr. Stewart turned around to face me, he had disappointment and thought on his face, "That girls got to start eating again," he mumbled to himself. "I'll be right out there Oliver, we'll make a snack or something and wait for Lily to wake up." I nodded and turned around to go out the door when Mr. Stewart stopped me, "Oh and you might want to put the bowl back near Lily." I nodded, suddenly hearing Lily gag.

I bolted towards the couch as fast as I could, but didn't make it in time. Lily threw up over the blanket she now had over herself and down the front of her shirt. She didn't look too happy with herself, tears were going down her face, and her hands were shaking.

"It's alright Lily," I told her rubbing her back as I tried to get her up from the couch. "We'll move you somewhere else." Lily nodded, and Mr. Stewart came into the room to pick up the blanket and rinse it in the sink. Meanwhile, I tried to take Lily up the stairs, but even as we moved to the kitchen Lily's legs were giving out beneath her. Instead, I told Lily to wait on stool in the kitchen as I went upstairs to pick out another shirt.

"I'm so sorry," Lily cried when I came downstairs with a shirt, her eyes were drooping again, and she seemed to be calming down. I gave her the shirt, and she changed into it slowly, giving Mr. Stewart the messy shirt. Now, I had to lead Lily somewhere other than the couch, but Lily was falling asleep as I came up with options.

"I'll carry her upstairs to her bedroom," Mr. Stewart whispered, taking Lily in his arms and up the stairs, with me in tow. We entered Lily's bedroom, and placed Lily on her bed, tucking her into the covers. "Do you want to stay with her, or should I?"

"I will," I almost demanded, sitting at the end of Lily's bed – creepily reminding me of the hospital. "But you might want to get the bowl and a cold cloth for her head."

Mr. Stewart nodded and ran downstairs for the requests. When he came back up with them I was sitting in one of the many beanbags in Lily's room in which I'd brought to the bed. "Is Lily alright now?" He asked, I nodded and took the bowl and wet cloth from Mr. Stewart, placing the cloth on Lily's burning forehead. "I'll be downstairs if you need anything, but I'll be back up every couple of hours to check Lily's temperature."

I nodded, and Mr. Stewart left.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this Chapter is so short! I've been helping with my mom's birthday party, and then I have the party tomorrow in which my sisters' and I have to be little slaves. And then afterwards, my sisters' and I are going to the movies! But I definately promise a post every day this week, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to do much this weekend... it's been so busy around here.  
- Rosie**


	54. Suspicion

Sure enough, Mr. Stewart came up every two hours like he'd said he would, to check Lily's temperature – which he had to keep track of in case it got any higher than it already was and Lily would have to be driven to the hospital.

"Hey Oliver," Mr. Stewart whispered as he came into the room, I nodded and he looked towards Lily who was semi-conscious. "How's she doing?"

I smiled, and shrugged my shoulders, "She's not throwing up." I told him with a laugh. Mr. Stewart nodded, and came over to the bed with a thermometer in his hand.

"100.2," Mr. Stewart read off three minutes later. He shook his head, and took the cold cloth from Lily's head. He took the cloth into the bathroom attached to Lily's bedroom, and ran cold water through it before bringing it back. "Lily's temperature should go down if we keep a cold cloth on her head, and I think we should get her a snack to eat."

I nodded, making my way out of the room slowly to make sure that Lily was still okay. I ran down the stairs to the kitchen, and looked in the cupboard for food that would be appetizing to Lily. I picked up the cheddar flavoured goldfish, Lily's favourite snack, and then gingerale to settle her stomach. I brought it up the stairs quickly without spilling it and brought it into Lily's room.

I found Lily now sitting up in her bed, "Hey." I said cheerfully, placing the goldfish on the table next to Lily, and giving her the glass of pop. "Are you feeling better?"

Lily shrugged, and took a small sip from the glass before she placed it beside the snack. "A little," Lily croaked, it sounded as if her throat was sore. "The nausea's better," she laughed.

I smiled at Lily's laugh, and pointed towards the food, "You should eat." I told Lily, who was making no move to get the goldfish, "It will settle your stomach and make you feel even better." Lily shrugged, "Not even a bite?"

Lily sighed, and took one goldfish, "Happy?" She asked in her scratchy voice. Mr. Stewart, who I noticed was in the room for the first time, gave me a small smile and shrugged. I laughed, and turned back to Lily who was picking at her hair. "I think I should take a shower," Lily announced, taking off her hat, and getting out of the bed slowly. Lily was about into the bathroom, but she turned around before she reached the door, "Thanks," Lily told us, while she was clinging on to the frame of the door for support, "For everything."

I smiled, and watched Lily go into the bathroom and shut the door. I turned to Mr. Stewart who was picking up the goldfish from the table and got up. "Do you want to go downstairs?" Mr. Stewart asked me, heading towards the door, I nodded knowing that Lily would want her privacy when coming out of the shower, and followed Miley's dad down the stairs.

I walked into the television room, while Mr. Stewart continued onto the kitchen where he made himself more coffee. I sighed, sinking into the couch and turning on the television so that I was watching the news – which was the only thing on. There were stories about Hannah Montana's concert, how Seaview School was shut down due to a fire, and would be opening again after the weekend. But after that, I fell asleep, from being tired from waking up early to come to Miley's this morning when my parents left for work.

**Robbie Ray's POV:**

Once again, the house was silent, but I couldn't help thinking that Lily could get hurt or have another seizure while I wasn't up there to help. It distracted me from everything, I loved Lily like a daughter, and the last thing I wanted was for something to happen to her.

I closely listened for the shower to turn on, and when it did, I sighed with relief and went back to sitting down on the stool and drinking my coffee. I waited for Miley and Jackson to come home – which they did, another two hours later, after I'd tucked Lily back into her bed when she threw up twice more and fell asleep again.

"Hey daddy," Miley whispered when she entered the house, she could tell that Oliver was asleep. "How was your day?"

I shrugged, and looked over at Oliver, "It's been fine." I told Miley, unable to tell her about the chemo. "Just a little quiet," Miley nodded, "Lily's been throwing up, so when you go upstairs make sure that you don't wake her up."

Miley nodded again, placing the shopping bags down on the floor before she came to my level, "Is Lily alright?" She asked with worry, "She's been sick since she got out of the hospital, should we take Lily back?" I shook my head, laughing silently at Jackson, who had come through the door with the rest of Miley's bags. I turned back to Miley, who had a very serious look on her face, "Are you keeping something from me dad?" Miley asked, I shook my head, trying my best to keep on lying. "Because you know, if you are then I'll find out eventually and I might not talk to you for quite a while."

"I'm not keeping anything from you," I said to the ground. I could never tell a lie to Miley's face.

"Say that to my face," Miley told me again, lifting my chin up. "Is there something about Lily that I don't know?"

I looked at Miley's face, and concentrated hard on what I was going to tell her, "Lily's sick." I told Miley with a quiet voice, "She just needs to gain her strength back is all."

Miley nodded, taking the answer for now – though I knew she was going to be asking again. My little Miley wasn't five anymore, she didn't take 'because I said so' as an answer anymore. And Miley definitely wasn't stupid; she would figure this out whether or not Lily told her. "Alright," Miley laughed, "Do you want to help me wake Oliver up now?"

I looked over at Oliver; he'd been sleeping for two hours now. I nodded, and turned to Miley getting up from my seat and heading towards the couch, "Nothing too cruel." I whispered to Miley as she kneeled down to Oliver.

Miley nodded, and considered how she was going to do this, "Does yelling in his ear count as cruel?" She asked me.

"Yes," Oliver groaned, waking up before Miley had the chance. "Yelling counts as cruel, and so do a lot of other techniques you've used in the past."

I laughed, and went back to the kitchen to drink the rest of my coffee. Oliver and Miley stayed on the couch, and watched the television that had remained on since Oliver started his nap.

* * *

**A/N: I can't remember which three or two of you reviewers said that this story was long... and I was wondering, is it bad that it's so long?  
It's just that I have so many ideas written down for future chapters that would only have to do with later on in the chemo. And I just can't find the heart to skip ahead a few weeks to that point. But I just might, I'll have to see whether it would work or not...  
Other than that, thank you everyone for reviewing! I'm glad you like the story.**

Mocha Addict: Thank you for pointing out that Miley isn't stupid. Because of course she isn't, and she will be finding out eventually (See, that's one thing I've had planned since the beginning of the story, and again, it shouldn't come until a few weeks or months into the chemo.) From my standpoint, Miley is busy with school work and getting back into Hannah Montana. Now that might sound selfish of Miley to ignore her friend, but it's the only way for Miley not to realize what is happening.

Lilrin91: Thank you for saying that I've made your day! Hey, you made mine just by saying that! I do smile when I get reviews like yours, thank you again. The whole point of showing Lily going through Chemo was, unfortunately, to make you see how much she was going through, I guess you cringing proved the scene realistic. But I've been trying to get those Oliver/Lily moments in because I think they make good friends and/or a couple.

Quick headsup, I'll be moving to Australia for the next six months because my dad's company is t**emporarily** **transferring him there. I'll have my computer, ha I can't live without my laptop, but my family and I will be starting the move in another three weeks, once the first quarter at my school has finished. So, my sisters and I have already been ordered to pack, and after this week we'll be so busy - though I'll try and post whenever I have the free time. I'll try try try to have a post-a-thon on Saturday (Sorry my last post-a-thon didn't work out as well as I'd hoped it would.)  
-Rosie****  
**


	55. Wondering

Everything was starting to calm down, when I heard a noise from upstairs – most likely Lily, because Miley and Oliver were still in the living room. Miley looked over at me, worried and scared, but I just shook my head and ran up the stairs myself hoping that Miley wouldn't follow. When I got to Lily's room, I found her fully dressed, in front of the mirror with a brush in her hand. Lily sat down on the bed when she noticed I was coming into the room, and put the brush next to her. That's when I noticed a bit of her blond hair in her hand.

"It's only a little," Lily sulked. "But how much longer until the rest comes out?"

I shrugged, I didn't know the answer, and I wasn't expecting to have this talk for at least another three weeks. "Chemotherapy is different for everyone," I told Lily, putting my arm around her shoulders. "But there are a lot of ways to slow hair loss down."

Lily looked up at me, "Like what Mr. Stewart?"

I thought back to what I read in the book that was now hidden underneath the table in the living room, "Well you could start using mild shampoo, use a softer brush, and have the hair dryer on low when you dry your hair."

Lily nodded, "What happens when I'm completely bald?" Lily asked, becoming quieter just at the thought, "What will I tell Miley?"

I turned Lily so that she was facing me, "You'll have to tell Miley eventually." I told Lily, grabbing her by the shoulders, and trying to get her from looking at the floor, "Are you planning on it?"

Lily shrugged, and continued to look at the floor before she got up and walked into the bathroom without answering the question. It seemed as if she weren't coming out anytime soon, so I just took the few blonde strands from the bedspread and brought them downstairs to throw away. When I got down to the kitchen, and threw away the hair, I turned to find that the couch was now empty, and that Miley and Oliver were no where to be seen. I looked around, and eventually found a note from Miley saying that they had gone to the beach, and that they would be back in about an hour.

"Where'd they go?" Lily asked quietly. She'd walked down the stairs so lightly that I hadn't noticed Lily come into the kitchen.

"The beach," I told her, Lily sighed. "Sorry, they'll be back in about an hour." Lily nodded, "How are you feeling?"

Lily looked up at me, and moved her head side to side. "Okay," she told me sitting down on the stool. "I'm still a bit nauseous, but I'm dizzier than anything."

I turned, putting my hand against her forehead, and then going to find the thermometer, "Do you mind if I take your temperature?" Lily nodded, and I put the thermometer underneath her tongue for a couple of minutes. When I took the stick out, I read the red numbers, 102.4. "Your temperature is getting higher," I told Lily, when I put the thermometer in the sink. "Maybe I should take you to the doctors?" Lily shrugged, "Do you have a sore throat, an earache, or headache?"

"Maybe a headache," Lily whispered, so that I could barely hear her. "And a bit of a sore throat."

I nodded, and immediately took Lily's hand, leading her away from the stool and into the car. I forgot to write a note, I didn't tell anyone I was leaving, but I took Lily to the doctor's without delay. I ran into the office like there was no one else around, even though there was.

"Can we see the first available nurse you can find?" I demanded to the nurse behind the glass wall at the desk. I dragged Lily to my side, so that the nurse could see, but the nurse didn't seem to care. I tried again, "Lily Truscott here is a cancer patient," I told the nurse. This time she seemed to be listening, "I don't know what's wrong, but Lily's got a high fever, headache and sore throat."

"We'll have a nurse check her out soon sir," the nurse told me calmly. I nodded, and sat down with Lily next to me. Everyone in the waiting room was now staring at me; I hadn't realized how loud I was being.

"We'll weigh you first, and then check out your health," Lily's doctor told us when we walked out of the waiting room. When Lily nodded, the doctor pointed towards the scale and told Lily to get on. The pointer was moved around a few times, first to the left, and then more to the left. I tried to get around the white coat to see what was happening, but I couldn't. "87," The doctor wrote down on his clipboard. I shook my head in shock. "Lily I understand that switching to chemotherapy has been stressful, and it's definitely causes you to lose your appetite, but I really think we should get you eating."

Lily nodded, and followed the doctor into a private room. I sat down on the chair, as Lily did the same with the table. The doctor stood in between us, and looked at his clipboard, "I've got to check your temperature, and take some blood." Lily nodded, and the doctor proceeded. Lily's temperature was continuing to climb, and later on we were told that the blood samples came back with clues leading to infection.

Now, both Lily and I sat down with the doctor in his office; the doctor had prescribed medicine for Lily to take for the next four weeks, and was now talking more to me. "Now, if Lily doesn't want to eat, you should give her snacks throughout the day. Lily doesn't have to have three full meals a day. If Lily can't eat solid foods, you can give her liquids like soup and juice, anything with important calories or nutrients; she could try and take a walk outside to make her hungrier." I nodded, and made sure that I could remember all of it, "For nausea Lily could suck on a mint, and avoid odours that might bother her. Lily you should tell Mr. Stewart when a smell is bothering you, otherwise he cannot help." Lily nodded, and we shook hands with the doctor and made our way to the pharmacy to pick up the medicine before we drove back home.


	56. Who Knows what Could Happen

When we got there, Miley and Oliver were waiting for us on the couch. Both were wet, I'd figured they had been in the water while they were down on the beach, and both were munching on a large bowl of chips they'd gotten out of the cupboard.

"Where have you been?" Miley asked me when she noticed that Lily and I entered the house. "You've been gone for hours, and you didn't leave a note or anything."

I laughed, and handed Lily the bag of prescriptions before I tried getting into the kitchen, "Try an hour." I told Miley, taking a chip from the bowl, "And I'm sorry about not leaving a note, we might have been in a rush."

"A rush?" Oliver asked, speaking for the first time, noticing Lily holding the white bag and realizing that it was medicine, "What happened?"

I shrugged, and tried to get off the subject, "How was the beach?"

Miley took the bowl into her lap when I stole another chip and looked up at me, "It was good." She told me, eating a chip, and then handing it over to Oliver, "We went body surfing, and just hung out."

"Sounds good," I added before I went into the kitchen, got an apple and walked into my office. Keeping the door open so that I could hear what the kids were talking about.

Before I knew it, the time told me that I should start making dinner. I sighed, and got up from where I was sitting at my computer, and walked in on Oliver, Miley and Lily watching television and throwing chips around at each other, making a mess at where they were sitting. I walked up, into the throwing range and attempted to yell over the noise.

"What do you guys want for dinner?" I asked, getting at least Lily to pay attention. I tried again, "Oliver I think you should call your parents, are you staying over tonight?" Oliver stopped at his name, but hadn't heard the rest of the sentence, I had to try again. "Call your parents," I told Oliver pointing to the phone.

"Could we have pasta for dinner Mr. S?" Lily asked, once Oliver got up from the couch. I nodded, and walked away from the mess, hoping that Miley and Lily would clean it up for me.

I turned around, after I was done cooking dinner, and found that the mess wasn't much better, and that Miley and Lily had abandoned the area. I looked around, Oliver was still on the phone with his parents, and Miley and Lily were no where to be seen. Before I began to look into it even more, I heard giggles from upstairs and I knew they were up there.

"Could you tell them dinner's ready?" I asked Oliver once he was off the phone. Oliver nodded, hearing the giggles as well and running up to find the girls – appearing again a couple minutes later. "They'll be down in a minute." I nodded, and watched Oliver sit down and pick up a bowl of pasta, "May I start?" He asked, pointing to the bowl with a fork. I nodded, and Oliver thanked me before he dug in.

"Now were the girls talking about their time," I asked Oliver, grabbing my own bowl. "Or mine?"

Oliver shrugged, "I can't read their minds." I laughed taking a bite of my own pasta, Oliver started again, "What really happened this afternoon?"

I looked up at where Miley's room was upstairs, as if I could see through the floorboards and turned to Oliver again, "Lily had an infection." I whispered so that Miley couldn't overhear. "Just a small one, we got antibiotics and they should help."

Unfortunately for me, I was wrong. The antibiotics Lily was taking had given her an allergic reaction, worse than the infection had been. Two days later, I was woken up by Miley at 2 in the morning, because Lily was in pain. Miley didn't know why, but she knew that Lily was in trouble and didn't ask any questions.

"I'll be right there," I told Miley almost immediately as she woke me up. "Just give me a minute to get some things from the kitchen." Miley nodded, and ran away as fast as she could back upstairs.

When I met Miley upstairs in Lily's room the light was on, and Miley was at her side. I walked over to where Lily was, she was grasping for breath – her face and neck swollen to almost twice its normal size.

"She's having an allergic reaction," I told Miley, trying to calm her down to the point where she could call the ambulance without breaking down. "Call 911," Miley nodded, and ran the closest phone. By the time she came back, Jackson was sleepily coming into the room. I looked up at my son, who was rubbing his eyes to get rid of the sleep. "Can you take care of Miley while Lily and I are at the hospital?" I asked Jackson, who nodded, and sat down with Miley on the bed where I was currently holding on to Lily.

It wasn't long until the ambulance attendants walked into the room with a stretcher in tow. And by the time Lily was on the stretcher, Miley was begging in tears that she come with us to the hospital. Regrettably, I couldn't let Miley come, and I had to keep saying no.

Lily was wheeled out of the room quickly, an oxygen mask over her head, I leaned over to speak to Miley before I left, "I promise Lily will be okay." I told Miley in a rush to get into the ambulance. "We'll most likely be back before you get home from school, just go back to bed and get Jackson to drive you to school a little late if you want to." Miley nodded, and so did Jackson. "You don't even have to go to school if don't want to. But we'll be fine at the hospital." Miley smiled through her tears, and hugged me before I bolted out of the room to meet the attendants outside in the driveway where the ambulance was already set up, the lights already flashing red and blue over the house.


	57. She's gonna be alright

When I arrived at the hospital, and Lily was taken to her private room, I had five text messages from Miley all about what was happening. I ignored them for now, trying to sneak a peak inside Lily's room. From what I could see, the doctors were putting her on the life support again, this time shoving it down Lily's throat. It was a chunky contraption, a long mask that covered Lily's entire mouth, and a large blue and white tube coming out from the whole in the mask. It strapped around Lily's head, hiding everything but her eyes. I looked away and called Miley back when another text message arrived.

I'd dialled the number, and heard one ring before Miley picked up – she wasted no time, and was the first one to speak, "Daddy? Daddy, what's happening, why can't I come?"

"Miley," I sighed calmly, even though I wasn't. "Lily should be fine, and you can't come because you, Jackson and Oliver have school today." Miley sighed and was about to say something else but I interrupted, "And I can't even see Lily right now, I doubt you'd be able to."

"So you lied to me?" Miley asked, very dramatically. Exaggerating the word lied, "Lily isn't okay?"

I shook my head, not even bothering to realize that Miley couldn't see, "Lily just got into the emergency room." I told Miley, and tried to remain calm, "We don't know about her condition yet."

Miley sighed again, and said nothing for a few seconds. "Alright daddy," she said eventually. "Just update me constantly, and if you need to take me out of school for anything… feel free to do so."

I laughed, "I love you Miley," I told her before I hung up, "Bye." We both hung together, and I walked back to my seat where I was still waiting for a doctor to tell me about Lily.

I waiting another hour and a half before Dr. Chow approached me. "How are you Mr. Stewart?" He asked, his Chinese accent still thick and hard to understand. I looked at him as if I were shooting darts out of my eyes, and Dr. Chow started again, "Lily's just having a hard time breathing, but we should be able to get that under control by this afternoon – she should be fine. We'll put her on different antibiotics once she's released, and see how those will work."

I nodded, "thank you." I said turning around to face Dr. Chow, who was now sitting next to me. "When do I get to see Lily?"

"Soon," Dr. Chow responded, getting up from his seat and heading towards Lily's room. "Lily's fine, I promise. Allergic reactions are hardly ever fatal."

I sighed, and leaned back in my seat watching all the nurses and doctors walking around with or without their patients. It wasn't long before I feel asleep again; it had only been a couple of hours since Miley woke me up from my deep sleep.

Next I know, my cell phone started ringing loudly, waking me up before I felt I'd put in enough hours. I picked up the cell phone sleepily, noticing that I'd been asleep for six hours already.

"Hello?" I yawned into the phone, almost inaudibly.

"Daddy," I recognized the voice straight away, and woke up a little more. "I'm just calling from the school phone, how's Lily?"

I looked over at Lily's room, "I haven't seen her yet." I struggled to say, my eyes still dropping with drowsiness. "But Lily will be home by early tonight, so you can see for yourself – then."

I looked over at Lily's room, "I haven't seen her yet." I struggled to say, my eyes still dropping with drowsiness. "But Lily will be home by early tonight, so you can see for yourself – then."

Miley said nothing, and in the background I could hear the loud speaker, "Alright daddy." Miley said eventually, "I've got to go – I'll see you after school."

Before I could say that I wouldn't be home when she was, Miley hung up the phone, and I was left with the ring tone. It took me a while before I hung up the pay phone and walked back to where I was sitting before, and got myself comfortable just before another doctor came up to me.

"You can see Lily now," the doctor told me. "She's in room B204, the room right over there." He pointed, and I nodded to tell him that I understood – I already knew where to room was to start. I got up the same time as the doctor and we walked opposite ways.

I slowly walked towards the room that I'd been waiting to go into, but I was getting more nervous the closer I got. Once I'd reached the doorframe I didn't want to go in anymore – the sounds of the machines were already starting to freak me out, and I could see half of Lily's unconscious body on the hospital bed. But I knew I had to go in, and eventually I managed to tell my legs to move closer again. Soon, I was in the room, next to Lily's bed, looking down at Lily – and the life support machine that I had seen through the window before. But it was real now, I was there seeing this all happen to Lily, and the life support was a whole lot more complicated and uncomfortable than I remember the last one being.

When I reached for Lily's hand, her eyes opened slowly and she looked up at me. I squeezed her hand, and she squeezed it back – and for once since I'd been in this hospital I knew she was going to be okay.

I smiled, and let go of Lily's hand quickly to get a chair to bring to her side. "How are you feeling Lily?" I asked in a whisper. Then I realized that Lily couldn't talk, "Better?" Lily nodded, and took a deep breath in. "You'll be home by tonight," I told Lily, not knowing what else to say. "The medicine you were on gave you an allergic reaction and Dr. Chow is going to prescribe you another antibiotic." Lily nodded again, "Miley went to school, so she isn't here – but trust me, Miley's trying to get herself out of school and to your side immediately." I laughed, and I noticed that Lily tried but stopped herself when it became too painful. I sighed, and considered calling a doctor to take the life support away – but I realized Lily needed to be on it at this moment in time.

I hung out with Lily all day – up to when Miley called after school. She'd been worried about what was happening, and demanded to know – but all I could tell Miley was that Lily was fine and was coming home tonight, which Dr. Chow had confirmed about an hour ago.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry I took so long to post this. My friend came back from boarding school for the weekend and I had to see her before we leave for Australia. Which reminds me - I'll post everyday this week again, but on Saturday I've got to pack the rest of my room, and then on Sunday we're driving to the airport to catch our plane. I won't be in Australia until Monday our time, and I'll post on Tuesday - sound good?**


	58. Responsiblity

Together, Lily and I arrived home at 7:30. To Miley and Oliver sitting on the couch waiting for us, and the table set for dinner. I smiled at the sight, and walked towards where Miley was now getting off the couch. I pulled her into a hug, and we walked together to the table. When I looked behind me, Lily was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd Lily go?" I asked Oliver who was getting off the couch to follow me and Miley. Oliver shrugged, and looked over his shoulder.

"I didn't see her walk away," Oliver told me, turning around again and looking everywhere. "I'm going to find her."

**Oliver's POV:**

I walked around the house outside a few times, and down to the beach without finding Lily. When I got back up to the house I looked around upstairs, Lily's room, Miley's room and the bathrooms, but again Lily was nowhere to be seen. I walked downstairs to the kitchen, shrugged at Miley and Mr. Stewart, and walked back outside to the beach where I figured Lily would be if anywhere. I squinted in the fog and dark, as it got later and later and finally saw a shadow of the figure I'd been looking for – and had missed before.

"Lily?" I called out, but the figure didn't move. I started to think that it wasn't Lily, but I was going to take chances, "Lil?" I called out louder, but Lily moved a little to face me before facing the ocean again. When I noticed that Lily wasn't about to come to me, I moved towards her slowly. "Are you alright out here?" I asked quietly one I'd stepped next to Lily.

In the dark Lily nodded her head; I turned her towards me so that we were facing each other. "I wish none of this were happening," Lily cried in a whisper, hugging herself and trying to keep herself warm.

I moved closer, and wiped a tear from Lily's cheek, "I can't promise that it'll be over soon." I whispered, pulling my jacket closer as the wind from the ocean reached where Lily and I were standing, "But I promise I'll always be there for you – through everything."

From what I could see in the dark, Lily smiled. "Thanks Oliver," she sniffled, reaching out her hand to grab mine. I took the small hand and brought Lily closer, swinging the hands back and forth as we watched the waves crashing in front of us. I was happy with where we were, and what we were doing, but then I realized something.

"I think we should get up to the house," I told Lily. She nodded, and, still holding her hand, we walked up the beach and onto the porch. Lily stopped me at the door, just before we walked into the house – and quickly wiped away the rest of her tears before we walked up to Miley and Mr. Stewart. We hugged, and I made my way outside and down the beach so that I could walk to my house.

**Lily's POV:**

I went up to bed before everyone else, but I didn't end up falling asleep until three hours after I heard Oliver leave the house, and both Miley and Mr. Stewart check on me before they went into their rooms, I pretended to be asleep both times. For the rest of the night, I rolled around on my bed, getting into another uncomfortable position. I sighed loudly, and ended up on my back – looking up at the ceiling.

I don't remember falling asleep, but then again I must have. I woke up to the sound of Miley getting up to go to school. I looked at the clock on my side table; it was 5:30 – too early for anyone to be awake!

I groaned and turned on my side in my bed just as Miley poked her head through the door.

"Hey you awake sleepyhead?" Miley asked, bringing her whole body into the room and walking to sit on my bed. I looked up at Miley and shook my head before I brought it back down to the pillow, "Well, it looks like you're awake."

"You're crazy," I grumbled pulling the covers over my head. "I can't believe you get up this early in the morning."

Miley pulled the covers from over me, and laughed, "You used to as well." She told me, "I can't believe you get to sleep in." I pulled my covers over my head again, and managed to have the strength to keep them there despite Miley's attempts. "Do you have any idea how jealous I am?"

I groaned again, and pealed my covers off as I sat up in my bed, "yeah because you want to be home sick all day."

Miley laughed, "You'll get better soon." She told me, getting off of the bed, "But I've got to get to school now – so I'll see you later?"

I nodded and Miley waved as she walked outside to the hallway. I listened to her walk down the stairs, and when I heard Miley walk out the door I laid back down in my bed once again.

What felt like ten minutes later, Mr. Stewart poked his head into my room, and I heard him walk quietly over to my bed – because Mr. Stewart thought that I was still asleep.

"Lily?" He whispered, brushing back some of the blond hair that was falling into my face. "You have to wake up, were driving to the hospital soon and I want you to get some breakfast in you before we leave."

I groaned, I still thought it was too early to be up, "How about we skip breakfast." I told Mr. Stewart when I sat up on my elbows, "And I get some more sleep."

"Ah, ah, ah," Miley's dad shook his finger and sat down on the side of my bed. "I can't remember the last time you actually ate a full meal," I thought about it myself and was about to protest but Mr. Stewart interrupted. "You might even feel better after chemotherapy if you eat."

"Prove it," I tried. "It's just more food to throw up, why bother?"

"Because you need your strength," Mr. Stewart retorted. "It's only your second round, and you've already had a horrible reaction to the chemo."

I nodded my head, and cringed as I remembered a couple of days ago, "Alright." I gave in, "I'll eat your stupid breakfast."

Mr. Stewart smiled and got off the bed so that I could get dressed – which I did very slowly. Eventually walking downstairs where I was greeted by Mr. Stewart and his big bowl of porridge.

"Thanks," I mumbled when Mr. Stewart placed the bowl in front of me. I managed to pick up the spoon, and take a few bites before I put it back down and slumped down in my seat. "What time are we leaving?" I asked Mr. Stewart.

Mr. Stewart turned around and looked at me, shaking his head at the amount left in the bowl in front of me, "In about half an hour." He told me, "Keep eating, I'm not letting you off the stool until you eat at least half of that."

I groaned again, refusing to eat anymore, and just resting my head on the counter. Mr. Stewart didn't say anything else, after a while I heard him pick up the bowl and place it in the sink before he walked into the living room and turned on the news.

I turned around to face him, picking my head up from the counter. "Can I get up yet?" I asked Mr. Stewart who I found sitting on the couch.

"You didn't eat half of your porridge," Mr. Stewart told me shrugging his shoulders. "But seeing as you ate something, you can get up." I smiled, and walked over to the couch to watch the news with Miley's dad. "Is it time to go yet?"

Mr. Stewart looked at his watch, and then up at me, "Yep." Mr. Stewart told me, getting up from the couch and holding out his hand to help me. "Let's get in the car."

* * *

**A/N:** **G'day everybody! I have arrived at my final destination - Sydney, Australia. And despite the time in the US of A, it's 8:40 am here on Tuesday... and I seem to remember a promise to you guys that I post today, so here it is!  
Oh, and by the way - I'm sorry about not posting last week! I promised and I didn't do it, and I'm so sorry! This week I'll be better!  
-Rosie**


	59. Haircut

I got myself up and Mr. Stewart and I went out the door in the frigid morning weather. I pulled my sweatshirt closer to me as we both got into the car and Mr. Stewart turned on the engine. Normally, the radio would be on, or Mr. Stewart and I would be talking up a storm, but we were both quiet. Instead, I looked out the window as we drove on the pacific coast highway. There was a storm brewing up past the coast; big dark clouds were gathering, and the sky looked as if it would explode with rain, thunder and lightning any second now. And so, I wasn't surprised when it did five minutes later.  
"Wow," Mr. Stewart laughed when the rain pelted the windshield. "It's really coming down hard." I nodded in response, and continued to look out the window. "I think we'll ask Dr. Chow when you can go back to school," Mr. Stewart told me, trying to keep up the conversation. "If you don't start going back soon, you might have to repeat the ninth grade."  
I groaned in response, "I don't care what Dr. Chow says then." I told Mr. Stewart, coming to my own decision, "I'll go back to school tomorrow, and nothing is going to stop me."  
Mr. Stewart turned to me, and gave me a look, but that was all he could do because he was still driving the car. "I don't know if tomorrow's the best," He told me, when he turned back to face the room, "Maybe next week. You've got everything under control – all of your make up work is finished." I nodded my head, because it was.  
And then I turned back to face the side window, and I watched the rain pelt it, and listened to the thunder. I started to twirl my hair on one finger before I realized that my hair was starting to fall out again. A clump of my blond hair fell into my lap as I pulled my hand away in attempts to stop playing with my hair. I looked down at it for a while, just staring, and then I realized what happened and picked up the strands into my palm.   
"Maybe we should get you a haircut," Mr. Stewart said, surprising me because I didn't know he was watching, "If your hairs shorter than it won't be so bad losing it."

I shrugged my shoulders, it had been so long since I'd cut my hair that I was unsure about doing it. But when it came down to what was best, I guess I had to do it. Besides, I was exactly enjoying having lost my hair already. "Alright," I whispered to Mr. Stewart, as I continued to face the window and look out at the storm. "I'll do it, but not to short."

Mr. Stewart nodded, pulling into the outpatient entrance at the hospital, "Okay." He agreed, putting the car into park, "If you feel up to it, maybe we can do it after chemo."

Sure enough, I didn't have such bad reaction to the chemo this time. The throwing up was mild, and most of it was done in the hospital instead of outside. Mr. Stewart turned to me as we walked outside to the storm, and just before we walked out the door he asked me again, "Do you want to get your hair cut now, because if you don't – then we don't have to."

I shrugged again, and thought about it for a brief second before I gave my answer, "I'll do it." I practically whispered to Mr. Stewart. He nodded, and led me to the car, making sure that I was okay before he started the car. We drove to the nearest hair dressers in Santa Monica, one that Mr. Stewart has been to before, and by then I was starting to get a little nervous.

We walked in together, a barber greeting Mr. Stewart as he walked through the door. I sat there silently until Mr. Stewart motioned towards me, "This is Lily." He told the guy that had greeting him, "Can you cut off a few inches of her hair for me Paul?" The guy nodded, showing me to the chair and sitting me down.

"Good Morning Lily," Paul said as he sprayed me hair with water to make it wet. "How are we doing today?"

I shrugged my shoulders, and said nothing else, Paul looked over at Mr. Stewart for an answer, but he did the same. "How much do you want off?" Paul tried again.

I looked at my hair in the mirror; with it wet it seemed a lot longer. I shrugged again, and Mr. Stewart cut in, "A little above her shoulders." He told Paul, "Leave just enough to put into a ponytail."

Paul nodded, and I shut my eyes as he started to cut. I could feel my hair falling to the ground, and when I opened my eyes again, I looked so different. My hair was just above my shoulders, which was quite a bit shorter than before. "Thank you," I told Paul before I jumped off the chair. I started to get a nauseous feeling in my stomach, and asked for the bathroom, which Mr. Stewart directed me to.

When I was done, I walked outside to the parlour to find Mr. Stewart and Paul talking. I coughed a little, and both then realized that I was standing in the room. So Mr. Stewart took my hand, and led me out the door thanking Paul on the way.


	60. Welcome Back

During the car ride, I once again looked out the window at my surroundings. The storm was growing worse as we got closer and closer to Malibu, and it fascinated me. I ended up falling asleep, I guess it was because Miley had woken me up so early this morning, or because chemo was starting to effect me, but I fell asleep and didn't wake up until we were back at the house.

"Afternoon sleepyhead," was the first thing Mr. Stewart said to me as I woke up. "Are you feeling okay, or do we need to set you up on the couch again?"

"Couch," I whispered weakly, as the nausea seemed to come back for the first time since I came back from the hospital. Mr. Stewart took one look at me before he got out of the car and came to my side – and by that time, I was half unconscious. Mr. Stewart ended up having to carry me all the way to the couch and tucking me in with a blanket as I started to shiver. "Thank you Mr. Stewart," I whispered again. I fell asleep as the phone rang in the distance, and the last words I heard Mr. Stewart say were, "Oh hey, Martha, hey Bill." And when I woke up, Mr. Stewart was sitting beside me reading a magazine.

"Oh good your up," he said as I turned in my duvet to look at him. "I have some bad news – your mom and dad have to fly to Vancouver to do some work, and although they said they'd be back next week – they may have to be there for quite a while."

I groaned I didn't enjoy having my parents away – but I knew they had to; otherwise my hospital bills wouldn't be paid. "Define quite a while," I asked Mr. Stewart – picking myself up and leaning my head against the armrest.

"Another couple of weeks," He sighed, putting down his magazine. "But they'll be here in a week for the day to check up on you." I smiled quickly, and turned back forward – picking at a string on my blanket, "So, how are you feeling now Lily?"

"A little cold still," I told Mr. Stewart quietly – shivering as I said this. "But otherwise I feel fine."

"Good," Mr. Stewart smiled, walking over to the kitchen and getting himself sandwich meat and two slices of bread so that he could make himself a sandwich. "Would you like one?" Mr. Stewart asked me, pointing a knife at the sandwich that he'd made. I turned to Mr. Stewart quickly and shook my head before I turned back to snuggle into the covers again.

I found that I was actually lucky that time with the chemo, because only a week later and after three more treatments I was back to throwing up everywhere. I was on the same couch, with the same blankets, and the large bowl on the table next to me. Luckily, Dr. Chow granted me permission to attend school three times a week, and I was starting today.

Miley and I sat in my room, all ready for school, and Miley was brushing my short hair back into two pigtails. "Are you excited?" Miley asked me when she was all done. I nodded my head, and turned to face Miley. "You finally get to come back to school, are you sure you're ready?"

"Dr. Chow said I could," I shrugged – I was feeling better since yesterday's treatment. "I just hope I can keep up with everything – I mean, finals are in two weeks."

"I know, I know," Miley smiled, taking my hands in hers. "But you'll do fine."

I sighed, and looked at the clock. It was time to go, and Mr. Stewart was probably waiting for us downstairs to drive us to school – we weren't going to take the bus, me coming to school was a surprise for Oliver.

"You girls ready now?" Mr. Stewart asked as Miley and I walked down the stairs, and made our way into the kitchen where Mr. Stewart had set up a bowl of fruit for us. We nodded, and Miley took her bowl as we walked outside to the car, no one seemed to notice that I didn't have mine.

We pulled up to Seaview High School twenty minutes early, so that I could catch up with some of my teachers. "Good luck Lily," Mr. Stewart said as Miley and I got out of the car. "And have a good day at school." Miley smiled, and kissed her dad before we both made our way to the front entrance. First thing we did was go to find Oliver – which wasn't hard, because at this time in the morning he would be one of two places. The library – so that he could catch some more sleep before class, or his locker – where he tries to act cool and get girls.

We found Oliver near his locker, reading a book on the floor – one I recognised as the book I read to keep up with the English class and finished last week. Miley cleared her throat, but Oliver didn't look up – he put up one finger to tell Miley to wait a second. We watched silently as Oliver finished the page and looked up.

Oliver smiled, looked down at his book and then looked up at the both of us again as he realized I was standing in front of him. Oliver stood up quickly and pulled me into a huge hug.

"Are you starting school again today?" Oliver asked, while still hugging me. He pulled me back, putting both his hands on my shoulders, "I love your hair that length."

I smiled, "thank you Oliver." I touched the end of my hair, and looked at Miley with a smile. "And yes, I'm back at school – for now," I announced.

Oliver smiled, and pulled me in for another hug before the bell rang a couple seconds later. Oliver released me, and Miley grabbed my hand pulling me to homeroom as the both of us waved goodbye to Oliver. I turned to face Miley as we walked into homeroom, I was nervous after not being in school for the longest time – people would be talking.

Miley patted my back, "you'll be fine." She reassured me, practically reading my mind. "Just breathe, and you'll be fine, and the day will be over before you know it."

I nodded, and took Miley's advice. "Have people been talking?" I asked before I walked through the door, I dragged Miley to my side of the doorway so that people could get past us.

"Honestly?" Miley asked quietly, so I already knew the answer. I nodded, "yeah – they're talking, but it's all stupid, and Oliver and I have been trying to stop it."

I nodded, looking into the classroom; I suppose I was ready now. Miley watched me, and realized that I was going to go in, so she grabbed my hand again and squeezed it for luck before the both of us walked in and took seats across from each other.

"Welcome back Ms. Truscott," the homeroom teacher smiled, before she started the announcements.


	61. They're Home Again, If Only for a While

The day went by pretty uneventful. There were people coming up to me to say "hey", and "welcome back", and there were people that would just whisper to the people around them as I walked down the halls. But I ignored it, with the help of Miley and Oliver, and made it through my first day of school without getting sick or collapsing.

I was so excited to go home afterwards, my parents were going to come see me tonight before they flew off to Vancouver for the next couple of weeks. The bus ride home seemed very long, and even though I had Miley and Oliver sitting right next to me there was nothing that could get my mind off of how long it was taking. It was like today the bus driver woke up and decided that he was going to go 2 miles an hour today. I groaned, and looked out the window at the beach we went by, and listened to the angry drivers behind us that agreed with me that the bus was going too slow.

I looked back at Miley and Oliver, and felt myself getting sleepier. So I rested my head on the window and looked up at the ceiling until Miley announced we were at the house. I ran up the driveway way before Miley and Oliver even got off the bus, and I was in the house for 10 minutes before they arrived again.  
"What took you so long?" I asked, jumping up and down. Miley stepped back and tried to stop me by putting her hands on my shoulders.

I noticed Oliver was holding the mail, "We went to the mailbox." He told me, walking over to the kitchen and placing the envelopes on the counter so that Mr. Stewart could find them.

I nodded, suddenly looking around the house to see if Mr. Stewart was home with my parents yet. But it didn't look as if that were the case, and I plopped myself on the couch, Miley and Oliver doing the same.

"How'd you like your first day back at school Lily?" Oliver asked after a moment on silence between the three of us.

I shrugged, "I was okay I guess." I told Oliver and Miley, "but now I have to go back to doing homework."

Miley laughed, "But only for a little while longer." She said, pulling a blanket over our laps and getting up to make some popcorn. "Schools almost out for the summer."

This was true, "but that doesn't help my case." I told Miley, turning around to face her at the kitchen. "We still have to study for finals, and I'm dead meat because I haven't been in school for so long."

Oliver turned around to look at Miley as well, "We'll help you Lily." He told me, resting his head on his arms near me. "I'll give you my notes, and Miley will give you hers, and we'll all study together."

I turned back to face the television, "woo, sounds like a ton of fun." I said sarcastically. Oliver laughed and turned to me again.

"What sounds like fun?" A voice asked from the doorway. I knew exactly who it was without looking, and immediately got up from the couch.

"Dad!" I yelled, running into his arms as mom popped up at his side along with Mr. Stewart. "Mom! I missed you guys so much."

They kissed my head, and I let them in the house so that Mr. Stewart could place their bags down. "I'm sorry we have to leave again Lily." My mom told me, kissing my cheek, "I would do anything to be here with you every minute, but treatments are so expensive nowadays." I nodded, hoping that Miley wouldn't catch on, "How's living with the Stewarts sweetie?"

I looked over at Mr. Stewart, "I love being here." I told my mom. "It's like having another family, but I miss you too."

They nodded, and I sat back down with Miley and Oliver as Mr. Stewart directed my parents to the kitchen to eat before they had to get back on a plane in three hours. I beamed at Miley and Oliver, and we dug into the popcorn, ignoring Mr. Stewart's opinion on how we would ruin our dinner.

For the next few hours, I hung out with my parents most of the time, they gave the three of us presents from San Diego and we immediately put the shirts on and ran around the house with them – I think we were sugar high from the soda's. But when it came down to my parents leaving, I practically cried and held onto my parent's legs to stop them from going out the door. I knew it was going to happen eventually, so I kissed my parents again and hugged them tight before they left. Miley, Oliver and I sat outside until the car was down the driveway, yelling and waving goodbye, and once we knew they couldn't see us we stopped and walked back.

I sighed, sitting down on the couch with Miley and Oliver, looking down at my shirt – that was twice the size of me, in consequence of my weight loss due to chemo. We snuggled up in the covers again, and watched a movie despite the fact that we were supposed to be doing out homework.

"I wonder how Blake's doing," I wondered to myself when we were done with the movie. Oliver and Miley looked at me, "Maybe I should call her." Miley and Oliver nodded, and I got up from the couch and went into the kitchen picking up the portable phone and bringing it into the spare bedroom my parents were supposed to be staying in.

There were a couple of rings before anyone picked up, and it surprised me when my aunt's voice came onto the phone.

"Hello?" She said, with her Australian accent, "McKayne residence."

"Hey Auntie Katherine," I said quietly into the receiver. "May I speak to Blake please?"

It took a while before my aunt realized which niece she was talking to, "Oh Lily dear." She said again, "How are you? Are you feeling any better?"

"A little," I told her. "I went back to school today."

"Really?" Aunt Katherine sounded surprised and glad. "That's so wonderful, hold on – here's Blake, I think she realized it was you… I'll talk to you again dear, I love you."

I said I love you back, but Blake came on the phone before my aunt heard it.

"Lily," Blake yelled, "Are you good now?"

I laughed, four-year-old sisters can be so funny, "Not yet Blakie," I told her, "but I will be soon."

Blake laughed, and screamed into the receiver again, "Are you coming to San Francisco to visit? Because I miss you."

I smiled, it was hard not having Blake around – she always seemed to know how to cheer you up. "I miss you too Blake," I told her. "But I can't visit, but maybe you can come to Malibu with Aunt Katherine for a little while this summer."

I heard Blake clap her hands, "that sounds like fun Lily.' She told me, "Summers almost here where I am, did you know that?"

I laughed, "Here too." Blake laughed, and I could hear my aunt say something in the background, "How's school Blake?" I asked, knowing this conversation was coming to an end.

Blake thought about it, leaving a long amount of silence over the phone, "School is good." She told me at last, "I'm learning a lot of new stuff, and I want to show you next time."

I nodded, "Well, I want to see it," I told Blake, "And I'm looking forward to."

"Good," Blake said, laughing. "I go now Lily, we talk much more now."

"Alright," I said into the phone. "I love you Blake, I'll call again tomorrow okay?"

We agreed on a time, and both hung up so that I could join Miley and Oliver on the couch again.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews everybody! Am so sorry that I haven't been able to post very often - I'm trying to adapt to my new life here in Sydney. Have registered in homeschooling system, because it's almost summer here and I need to finish my junior year, I've started a kickboxing class with my sister Katie, and a figure skating class with my sisters Phoebe and Christine... so, I'm very busy - but hopefully this weekend/week I'll be able to post at least every other day! Thanks again for the reviews!  
-Rosie**


	62. Bad News

"How's Blake?" Miley asked as I pulled the blanket over myself and put a pillow behind my head.

I looked over at her and Oliver and smiled, "She's good." I told them quietly, as I started to get sleepy and close my eyes. "Blake and my aunt Katherine might come down to Malibu this summer or something." I yawned, and Oliver – who was sitting next to me, pulled my feet onto his lap so that I could fall asleep. I thanked him groggily just before I blacked out.

When I woke up again, Mr. Stewart was sitting at the kitchen counter eating a bowl of cereal, and Miley and Oliver were nowhere to be seen.

"Good afternoon sleep head," Mr. Stewart smiled as I sat up in my seat. "We've got to get you to the hospital in about half an hour, so if you want to get ready now would be the time." I nodded, still half asleep from my nap as I walked up the stairs to my room. I slowly got on the closest clothes I could find – not caring about whether they matched or not, but rather whether they kept me warm. I trudged down the stairs pulling my large sweatshirt over the shirt my parents had given me, and walked into the kitchen where Mr. Stewart was putting his bowl away.

"You ready?" He asked me, coming over to where I stood. I nodded, and Mr. Stewart pointed towards the door we had to go out in order to get to the driveway. "Miley and Oliver went to the beach for a little while; Jackson's keeping them there until we get back." Mr. Stewart told me once we'd gotten into the car. I nodded, and Mr. Stewart started the car to drive away. We hardly spoke the whole way to the hospital, I was still sleepy, and Mr. Stewart was concentrating on his driving. So I fell asleep again, and just as we pulled into the outpatient parking lot, an ambulance's siren woke me up.

"We better get going," Mr. Stewart told me as we got out of the car. "We're late and Dr. Chow's waiting for us." I nodded, unable to do anything else, and followed Mr. Stewart into Dr. Chow's office. At first I was confused, why would Mr. Stewart and I be coming into his office if I was supposed to be getting my chemo? Unfortunately, I was about to find out.

When we'd shut the door behind us, it revealed Dr. Chow sitting behind his desk, papers lying in front of him – which were probably about me, and a serious look on his face. I was scared as Mr. Stewart and I sat down and he started to talk so I kept trying to distract myself.

"How was your first day back at school today Lily?" Dr. Chow asked in his thick Chinese accent.

I looked over at Mr. Stewart for help, and he nodded towards Dr. Chow as if to tell me to give him an answer, "It was good." I whispered, "But I have a lot of homework."

"Have you done it all?" Dr. Chow asked; I shook my head trying to avoid the small talk and get Dr. Chow to his point. "Alright," Dr. Chow said, straightening the papers in front of him, "Then we will make this quick so that you can get home." I nodded my head sternly, "We have to get one quick MRI, and then you, Mr. Stewart and I have a few things to discuss."

I nodded again, and Mr. Stewart took my head to the MRI machine Dr. Chow was leading us to. I was then given a gown to put on, and went into another room to change before I was put into the machine and strapped down so that I wouldn't move. It took about 45 minutes for the MRI to be complete … so much for being quick. And afterwards I got to change into my clothes again and walk back into Dr. Chow's office.

"How are Lily's eating habits nowadays Mr. Stewart?" Dr. Chow asked once we'd all sat down again, at the sentences completion I tugged at my loose clothes nervously.

Mr. Stewart sighed, noticing this, and looked back at my doctor, "Not to good Doc." He told Dr. Chow.

Dr. Chow nodded, writing something down on his clipboard. He turned to me; "I'm going to prescribe a few vitamins for you." Dr. Chow told me, "Your weight loss is concerning and we need you to keep healthy." I nodded, and Dr. Chow wrote down the prescription and handed it to Mr. Stewart so that we could get it when we were done here. Dr. Chow sighed, "One more thing." He told Mr. Stewart and me, "I'm afraid the chemotherapy isn't working as well as it should be." My eyes widened at the thought, "And we have reason to suspect that the tumour is and will continue to grow."

"What can we do about it?" Mr. Stewart asked quietly, the news was probably as shocking for him as it had been for me.

Dr. Chow sighed again, and gave us a weak smile. "We'll finish off the chemotherapy within the next few weeks and hope for the best." The room was quiet, "Depending on how the MRI results come back tomorrow we'll decide whether another operation would be helpful or too risky."

Mr. Stewart nodded, and got up from his chair to shake Dr. Chow's hand and picked me up with my hands and held on until we got to the car. The car ride was once again quiet, but this time I knew why and for that I was close to breaking down. My parents were in Vancouver, Blake was in San Francisco, and the stress from not telling Miley was wearing me down. I had to fight for my life, but the easiest way out would just be to accept what was happening to me, and maybe even give up.

"Are you alright Lily?" Mr. Stewart asked me half way home – it was the first thing either one of us had said. I looked at Mr. Stewart – his eyes as red as mine, and nodded my head. "Good," Mr. Stewart whispered before turning back to the road, "Do you, maybe, want to get some food before we go back to the house?" I shook my head, and Mr. Stewart nodded and continued on until we got back to Malibu, without saying a word. We walked into the house, where Miley, Jackson and Oliver were sitting in the kitchen, but no one bothered to say anything just after seeing Mr. Stewarts face. He walked off straight to his office, and I could hear him using the phone – probably to call my parents.

I smiled at the three sitting on the couch, and walked up the stairs towards my room with my backpack in hand. As far as I could hear, no one said anything downstairs. I wasn't sure whether they'd moved, or if Oliver had left, not until I was called down for dinner. As I walked down the stairs, I listened to Oliver, Jackson and Miley talk to Mr. Stewart, but Mr. Stewart didn't seem to notice or pay attention.

I sighed before I walked into the room, clearing my head of anything that would make me break down in the middle of dinner. I walked into the kitchen with a smile, which I received from everyone else as well.

* * *

**NCooper:** Blake just turned 4.  
**iluvhsm2death117: **Is it bad that I've written this much? 'Cause if it is, then I can make the ending sooner.  
**Lilerin91: **I guess I thought that Amber and Ashley would talk bad about Lily - just because they were spreading rumours before. If I were Lily, which I sort of have been in this situation, I would be nervous about going back to school as well because you never know what people have been saying while you were gone.

**A/N alright guys!** **I've just gotten up for homeschooling, which starts in about an hour and a half, so once I'm done with that I'm going to the beach and I'll probably be able to post another chapter before I go to my friends house in Wagga Wagga for the next couple of days.  
-Rosie**


	63. Dr Chow's analysis

The next day I was so scared of going back to Dr. Chow's office that I could hardly pay attention in class. Of course the teachers would try and get my attention, or talk to me after class – they all knew about my cancer, and they all wanted to help. I was sent to the guidance office twice, once during French and once during my history class, but nothing could take my mind off those MRI results.

After yesterday, Mr. Stewart has hardly said anything. My parents were called I know that much – and they are going to be informed immediately as to what is happening. Miley has constantly been wondering what's going on, I know this, but she hasn't said a word – I think she's too afraid to. Oliver been comforting, and although I haven't said anything I think he already knows what's going on – and he's scared to, but being a boy he hasn't showed all of his emotions.

"Do you want me to go with you today?" Oliver asked me quietly at lunch. I was set to leave early in about 10 minutes. "Because I can if Mr. Stewart lets me."

I shook my head, the last thing I needed was to have one other person mute. "Thanks Oliver," I gave him a small smile. "But I think I have to handle this one on my own."

Oliver nodded, and went back to his lunch. I got up, throwing mine away and waved goodbye to Miley and Oliver who were sitting at the lunch table quietly. I walked down the hallway to the office, with my book bag over my shoulder, and found Mr. Stewart almost immediately. He was sitting in the office, waiting for me as I signed out – he silently put his hand on my shoulder and we walked out together to the car.

It seemed like forever once we reached the hospital, and made our way into Dr. Chow's office. Dr. Chow had gone to get the results of the MRI and left Mr. Stewart and I sitting in the two chairs in front of his desk. I nervously tapped my foot and played with the nails on my hand as we waited.

"Good afternoon Lily," Dr. Chow said as he came back into the room. I nodded my head in response, and said nothing so that Dr. Chow could go on with whatever the news was. "Are you ready for the MRI results?"

Mr. Stewart and I nodded our heads simultaneously, and leaned forward in our seats, Dr. Chow sighed. "From what we, your medical team, can see on this brain scan is that the brain tumour has spread very quickly." I nodded, holding back my tears, "It would be useless if we were to operate, and could cause permanent damage."

"Permanent damage?" Mr. Stewart asked Dr. Chow.

Dr. Chow nodded, "The surgery could result in death." I swallowed hard, now leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my stomach. "We find that it would be best if Lily continued chemotherapy for a couple of weeks, and then if nothing progresses we'll leave the choice to you and Lily." Dr. Chow explained, "You have the choice to keep Lily on chemotherapy, or the choice to end the therapy and leave Lily's body to make its own decisions."

"What are the chances?" Mr. Stewart asked quietly, "That the chemotherapy will work for Lily? Would it be better to end the treatments?"

"Lily's chances right now aren't very high," Dr. Chow explained without giving us numbers – which I knew to be bad. "But I leave all choices up to you."

Mr. Stewart nodded, and looked at me quickly before turning back to Dr. Chow. "What would it be like for Lily," Mr. Stewart asked, "If we stopped the chemotherapy and she didn't get any better?"

"The specific brain tumour that Lily has will spread even farther," Dr. Chow told us as I shut my eyes and tried to block out the sound. "Lily will lose her senses one by one, and eventually lose the ability to breathe." I squeezed my eyes shut, but it didn't stop the tears from coming down my cheeks. I really didn't want to hear the rest, but it seemed as if I had to, "We would keep Lily in the hospital for the last month, put her on a respirator, and make the process less painful."

I could see Mr. Stewart nod his head before I brought my knees up to my chest and rested my head on top of them, "Thank you Dr. Chow." I heard Mr. Stewart say, "Me and Lily will discuss this and get back to you on our decision."

Dr. Chow nodded, and Mr. Stewart and I left the room so that I could go into another to get my round of chemotherapy before I was allowed to go home. Now, after the chemo my hair started to fall out in huge clumps, not all together but every time a nurse held my hair back when I threw up pieces would end up in her hand.

So, we decided to shave my head so that I wouldn't have to deal with the hair loss any longer. It was upsetting, seeing my hair go like that and what was even worse was that, now I would have to tell Miley – because how else could I explain my bald head.

I sighed as we drove back to Malibu, a ski hat on my head to hide the hair loss. I had lost my eyebrows, and eyelashes a couple of weeks ago, but that had gone by unnoticeably seeing as they were blond in the first place - now I had no way of hiding. I kept trying to come up with what I was going to say, like should I lie, or should I blurt out the truth straight away.

"Don't worry about it," Mr. Stewart told me, placing his hand on my knee, "But we'll have to discuss what you want to do." Mr. Stewart added quietly – I knew he was already upset regardless of my answer.

I shrugged my shoulders, "Can we just see how chemo will work out?" I asked, unable to answer the question. Mr. Stewart nodded, and we drove the rest of the way back to Malibu quiet.

Once we were back at the house, I refused to get out of the car, so the both of us just sat there staring at the front door of the house. Miley would be home now, and so would Jackson – both would probably be on the couch doing homework, or watching television. So what was I going to do? Walk in, pull of my hat and let Miley fill in the blanks? I looked over at Mr. Stewart as if to say I was ready to go in, and he nodded, getting out of the car first and opening my door for me.


	64. Picking up The Pieces

I looked at the front door for a long time before I finally came up with the courage to walk in. As I did so, I adjusted my hat – so that it was further down on my head and folded my arms around myself self-consciously. I was waiting for the shock, the sudden questions but when Mr. Stewart and I walked in Miley and Jackson weren't in the room. I looked up at Mr. Stewart, who had walked up next to me, and he shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the kitchen to look for a note. I sighed, considering myself lucky that either Miley or Jackson were here.  
As I sat down on the couch, Mr. Stewart came back to me and stood in front of the couch. I looked up again, "What am I going to say?" I asked him frustrated.

Mr. Stewart understood exactly what I was talking about, and sat down next to me, "The truth hopefully." He told me – which didn't help me at all. I sighed, frustrated again and flopped back on the couch. Mr. Stewart tried again, "I'm sure Miley would understand. Would you like me to tell her – or be with you when you do?"

I nodded, and curled up in my corner of the couch, and ignored everything else around me. I guess Mr. Stewart understood, because he put a blanket over me and walked away.

I never actually feel asleep, more like pretended to. I heard when Miley and Jackson walked back into the house from the beach, and I could hear Oliver arrive to work on homework. I hid more underneath the covers, and tried to get my head to the point where it wouldn't be noticeable.

"Is Lily asleep dad?" Miley asked, moving a stool in the kitchen and sitting down on it.

I guessed Mr. Stewart looked at me during the silence, "Yep." He told Miley and Oliver – who I also heard sit down. "She's been asleep for a while now, but leave her be – I think we've got something important to tell you and Lily needs time to herself."

I shook, just at the thought of telling Miley about the cancer, and Oliver the diagnosis. And so I decided that I was actually going to fall asleep – which I did, but only to wake up an hour later to find Oliver, and Mr. Stewart in the kitchen.

"Good afternoon Lily," Mr. Stewart smiled when I poked my head over the side of the couch. Oliver pointed to my head, and I reached up to my hat to find it half off. I smiled weakly, and put my head back on the pillows so that neither Mr. Stewart nor Oliver could see me.

But I couldn't get away, because Oliver came up and sat down next to me on the couch, getting me to sit up. Oliver pulled me up with both my arms, and brought me so that I was facing him. "Shave it today at the hospital?" Oliver asked me, when I brought my head up to look at him. I nodded adjusting my hat again, "I think it looks cute." Oliver told me, putting my hat the way it had been before.

I rolled my eyes, and shook my head pulling my hat down again so that it was completely covering my head. I pulled the blanket over me, and sighed, "Yeah right." I mumbled to Oliver, "You have a warped definition of cute."

Oliver laughed, and shook his head. "It doesn't matter what you look like on the outside," he told me. "It's the inside that counts."

"Oh yeah," I countered. "Is that what everyone at school will think as well?"

Oliver said nothing, so I already knew what his answer was going to be. The kids at Seaview wouldn't be as accepting as Oliver was being. I sighed, and attempted to get up from the couch so that I could get to the bathroom as nausea took control – but my stomach calmed down and I sat back. Oliver rubbed my back, and I looked up at him. If there were any time to tell Oliver about the diagnosis, now might be the time.

"We went to see Dr. Chow today," I whispered to Oliver, avoiding eye contact. "Oliver," I cried, "It doesn't look good." I could feel Oliver tense as I said that, but he continued to say nothing, "Dr. Chow's planning on finishing the – the chemo in a couple of weeks." I told him, "and give me the decision to continue, or…"

I couldn't finish the sentence, so I leaned on the arm rest, and sobbed silently without tears, I could hear Oliver trying to hold his back and to brave for me.

"I'll be with you through everything," Oliver whispered to me. I sighed, and looked at Oliver with a small smile, "Everything," Oliver repeated.

I was about to say something back, when Miley, and Jackson walked into the kitchen from wherever they were. I avoided turning around, and hid underneath my covers more – which Oliver noticed me doing and got up from the couch to join Jackson and Miley in the kitchen.

"Hey guys," I heard Oliver say as he sat down on a stool. "Did you guys go to the grocery store?" From the sounds the paper bags were making, I guessed that they had, "Do you need help unloading?" Oliver asked – and I could hear him ruffle through the bag.

The kitchen was silent for quite a while as the three went through the grocery bags. But then, Mr. Stewart came into the room, looked over at me and sighed. "Hey guys," He said to the crew in the kitchen, "We all have to talk later, when Lily's awake." I groaned silently as all three agreed to the meeting. Though, I wasn't planning on waking up anytime soon.

Unfortunately, that wasn't my option. Mr. Stewart woke me up only half an hour later, without warning, and with Oliver, Jackson and Miley already sitting on the chairs surrounding the couch. I groaned, and threw my best death glare at Mr. Stewart as I tried to cover my head with the blankets once again. But he pulled them off again and brought my up like Oliver had earlier. The faces on Miley and Jackson's faces were indescribable, so I only looked up once as Mr. Stewart started the news.

"Miley, Jackson," He started seriously. "Lily has something to tell you both – and I want you to hear it out before you say anything." Both nodded, and I continued to look down at my lap. "Lily, are you going to tell them or am I?"

I nodded my head, and looked up. "I'm sorry Miley," I cried before I said anything else. "I never knew when was the right time to tell you, whether I was going to tell you at all," Miley looked sad and confused as I continued. "A couple of months ago I got sick, and when I didn't get better my mom took me to the doctors – who took a lot of blood, and ran a lot of tests," Mr. Stewart rubbed my back helpfully and told me to go on, even though I thought that Miley had already figured everything out. "We found out – I found out that I had a tumour… in my brain, a cancerous tumour." I wasn't finished, of course – but I realized I couldn't go on at that moment, so Mr. Stewart took over.

"We're sorry to break the news to you know Miley," He told his daughter, who when I looked at her, was already starting to cry. "But we found out from Lily's doctor, Dr. Chow, today that he'll be finishing off chemotherapy in a couple of weeks," Miley cried more, but Mr. Stewart continued. "The doctor didn't think that the chemo was working, and that Lily's tumour was growing too fast."

* * *

**A/N I'm back from Wagga Wagga, and with so many ideas!  
But first of all, I'm sorry about not posting this sooner! I wanted to make the scene between Lily and Miley and the brain tumour, believable - which I hope I did. I figure I'll have Miley get mad at Mr. Stewart and Lily for not telling her earlier - but then she'll realize that she needs to be there for her friend, build a bridge and get over it. But if you have any suggestions about any other ideas about how Miley could go about taking the news, do suggest! Otherwise, I'll go with some of my ideas and there will be a lot of dramatic scenes from now to the next few chapters.  
Talk to you laters! - Rosie**


	65. What I Like About You

I sat there silently as Mr. Stewart told the rest of the story – unable to even hear it myself. And by the end, Miley was sobbing heavily, Jackson comforting her. I knew it would take a while for Miley to understand what was happening, and why I hadn't told her any earlier. I expected Miley to get mad, and I didn't mind when she went storming out of the house and to the beach.

Mr. Stewart went running after her, until he realized that Miley needed some time to herself. And Oliver comforted me, as I tried to cry despite the fact that the chemotherapy had dried out my tears. "Congratulations," Oliver whispered into my ear. I looked up at him in surprise, "about telling Miley." Oliver clarified, "It took guts."

I smiled, briefly and excused myself to my room upstairs. But as I walked up the stairs, each step was harder and harder to take and eventually Mr. Stewart, who noticed my struggle, had to hold me up, and then carry me to my bed.

"Miley will get over it soon," Mr. Stewart told me as he sat on my bed after putting me down. "She's been down at the beach for about an hour and a half now," he continued, "I'd give it another half an hour." I smiled and nodded my head, "You should get some rest before dinner is served," Mr. Stewart told me, pulling my duvet off the floor and putting it over me. "Are you planning on going to school tomorrow?" He asked as he reached the bedroom door.

"I'll think about it," I told him before he left the room complete so that I could get to sleep – which I eventually did. Only to get woken up way sooner than I had hoped, by Mr. Stewart who was getting me up for dinner that I didn't really feel hungry for.

"Come on Lily," Mr. Stewart nudged me again. I moved a little, and threw the covers off of me, but when I got up I fell right over again. I tried again, and took a couple of steps before it happened again. "Here," Mr. Stewart said coming towards where I was now laying on my bedroom floor. "I'll carry you downstairs." I nodded my head reluctantly and Mr. Stewart collected me into his arms and didn't give me enough time to put a hat back on my bare head. But I was too weak to protest.

"There we go," Mr. Stewart said as he put me down on the stool at the kitchen, where I was now facing Oliver and Jackson. "Where's Miley?" He asked the two boys.

Jackson shrugged, and Oliver quietly responded, "Still down at the beach," Mr. Stewart nodded, and walked out the door to find Miley. Oliver turned to me, "Why was Mr. S carrying you? Are you alright?"

I nodded, taking a drink from my water glass. "I'm fine," I told Oliver. "I'm just a little weak."

Oliver smiled, and placed a bowl of pasta in front of me with the sauce and cheese already the way I liked it. "Maybe that will make you better," Oliver told me, another smile on his face. I smiled back, and took a forkful of pasta – which tasted delicious. Once I had eaten half of the bowl, Miley and Mr. Stewart were finally back in the house – Miley's face was considerably damp, and her eyes a little blood shot. But when she sat down, Miley gave me a small smile, and then went on to eat her dinner. I excused myself a few minutes later, when the conversation at the table dimmed down to silence. Everyone looked up as I got up from the stool, and rushed to me when I fell over my own feet.

"Are you alright?" Miley asked, being the first one to reach me. She was soon followed by three more people asking the same question.

I nodded my head, but Mr. Stewart once again took me into his arms and put me on the couch. I was now surrounded by everyone, "We're going to have to talk to Dr. Chow about this." Mr. Stewart told me, before he left the room, Jackson in tow, so that it was just Me, Oliver and Miley.

I cleared my throat to interrupt the silence, and glanced at my best friends quickly and then turning my head back down to my hands. I half expected my hair to fall into my face, but when it didn't reality hit me and I broke down sobbing dry tears again.

Oliver was the first to comfort me, and Miley soon followed – crying herself.

"How about we watch a movie," Miley suggested once we were all worn out. Oliver and I nodded, and Miley got up from the couch, where we were all sitting underneath a blanket. She looked through the movie cupboard underneath the television and decided on the movie Stick It, which we had all seen together at the movie theatre about six or seven months ago, and had enjoyed very much. Miley put the movie into the DVD player and came back to sit on my left so that I was sandwiched between her and Oliver.

Mr. Stewart came back into the room half way through the movie, to find the three of us laughing hysterically at some joke Oliver had said about the movie. He gave us a look before moving onto the kitchen and getting himself a cup of coffee.

"Are you two planning on going to school tomorrow?" Mr. Stewart asked Miley and Oliver. "Because so far, I haven't seen any homework being done." Miley and Oliver looked at Mr. Stewart guiltily and smiled at each other turning back to the television where the movie was now on pause. "I'll take that as a no," Mr. Stewart said, crossing his arms. "Oliver, if you want to sleep over you should call your mom." Oliver nodded, "The four of us will do something fun tomorrow," Mr. Stewart told me and Miley when Oliver went to get the phone. "Does that sound good?"

Miley and I nodded, "Don't we have to have to go to the hospital first?" I asked Mr. Stewart.

Mr. Stewart shook his head; "you don't have another round of chemo until next week." He told me, and then quickly changed the subject, "So what do you guys want to do?" Miley and I smiled at each other; we were both thinking the same thing. "Besides shopping," Mr. Stewart countered before we could say anything. "How about the aquarium?" Mr. Stewart suggested.

Miley and I shook our heads, "What are we, five?" Miley asked her dad – who obviously knew nothing about teenagers. "Would it be possible to sail to Catalina?" Miley wondered after a few minutes of thinking about it. "I mean, if the weathers good and all."

Mr. Stewart looked from Miley and me, and then back again. "I suppose," he said slowly. "We can rent a boat and spend the day on the beach."

"Sounds good," I told him. "But why can't we do that around here? I mean, there are plenty of beaches in Malibu."

Mr. Stewart nodded, and looked over at Miley, "Then there wouldn't be any adventure involved." he told me, "And it wouldn't be any fun."

I nodded in agreement, and Oliver came back. Mr. Stewart left the three of us alone, so that we could finish our movie and plan our day later on, or even in the morning – which was most likely going to happen, knowing this family.

When the movie was over, it was so late that Miley and Oliver head's were already dropping and in some instances they fell asleep for a few seconds and then woke up again. And even though, I was perfectly awake Mr. Stewart came over to the couch, "I think the three of you should set up camp." He told me, "Do you want to sleep here?"

I nodded, just because I didn't feel like getting carried up to my room again, and Mr. Stewart went into the cupboard to get king sized blow up mattress. It was a couple of seconds before he came back, blew the mattress up, and woke up Miley and Oliver to get onto the bed. And then he left me to the couch, turning the lights off when he left the room.


	66. How Do I Feel

I was woken up the next morning by Oliver and Miley who were used to going to school at the break of dawn. The two of them were talking, so I decided not to look as if I were awake and tried to tune out their conversation. I ended up falling asleep again, for another couple of hours until I was woken up again by the smell of pancakes and Mr. Stewart whistling in the kitchen. I sat up on my elbows, shook my head at the sight, and put my head back down on the pillow and was distracted by the ceiling fan, which was turned on due to the very humid weather that was coming through the porch doors from the beach.

But I wasn't allowed to watch the ceiling fan for very long. Mr. Stewart came over to the couch, with a big plate full of his famous pancakes smothered in syrup. I gratefully took the plate, and sat up in my seat before Miley and Oliver came to sit next to me with their plate of pancakes. We said nothing, but only because we were too busy stuffing pancakes into our mouths.

When we were done, Mr. Stewart took our plates to the sink and demanded that we get into our beach clothes. Miley and Oliver helped me up the stairs slowly, dropped me off in my room, and quickly retreated to their own so that they could change. I looked around my room and decided what I was going to wear rather than getting up to get the clothes. I was used to not being able to balance myself now, and as I walked though the room I held on to the first chairs and bureaus that I could find until I got to my closet.

It was easier from that point on; I picked up my tankini, short-sleeved shirt, and Bermuda shorts and walked back to my bed. From there, I changed into the clothes and made my way slowly down the stairs again where I found Mr. Stewart, Oliver and Miley all waiting for me on the couch.

"All ready to go?" Mr. Stewart asked me, picked up the bag I was holding with my suntan lotion and towel. I nodded, and Miley and Oliver got up from the couch to follow Miley's dad out the door. Just before we got into the car, Mr. Stewart turned around, "We have about a half an hour drive if any body needs to use the bathroom." We shook our heads, "Alright, here's the plan then. We're going to meet my friend Jacob at the marina, and he's going to show us how to use the boat before we set sail. We'll go to a restaurant, of anyone's choice, and we'll have the food half way to Catalina, sail around the island before we land, and go to the beach until whenever you feel like coming back." We nodded our heads, in agreement, "Okay then, let's get into the car."

Oliver went in first, then Miley and me, because Oliver and I had called the window seats way before Miley could get a word out. "You two are so evil," Miley muttered when we played jello on the way to the marina. The point of the game is to move around freely as you go around each bend in the road, and so far Miley was getting squished, "Can we play a new game?" Miley asked, after tolerating ten minutes of jello.

I leaned forward and looked at Oliver, I nodded and so he agreed as well, "Alright." I announced, "What do you want to play Miley?"

"How about the quiet game?" Miley suggested with an eager tone.

I bent forward to look at Oliver, and when I did he nodded his head, "Alright Miley, Oliver." I said, "Last one to talk gets…"

"Five dollars," Oliver held up a five-dollar bill that he'd taken out of his pocket.

We all nodded, agreeing to the rules, and Mr. Stewart counted down ten seconds to the game so that we all started at the same time. When he got to one, the car got silent, and Mr. Stewart chuckled to himself at how childish we were being. He told us jokes, so that one of us would burst out laughing and lose the game, but no one did no matter how funny the jokes were. Mr. Stewart even talked to us like we weren't playing, but none of it was working.

"You know guys," Mr. Stewart told us, after giving a twenty-minute lecture about Algebra and how we're going to use it when we're older. "I'm betting on Oliver taking first." Oliver made a face, and Miley and I stuck our tongues out at him, "And then Miley." Mr. Stewart continued, "Because if there's one thing I've learnt about Lily through all of this. It's that she can stay quiet for the longest time if she feels like it."

By that time we were at the marina, and Mr. Stewart could now turn around and look at our faces, "Well," He said when he turned around. 'I'm impressed – but can someone please lose so that I have someone to talk to on the boat?" The three of us shook our heads, "Alright, this is going to be a fun trip."

Mr. Stewart got out of the car, and the three of us followed behind him and down the dock where we walked up to the biggest sailboats I'd ever seen. Mr. Stewart then introduced us to his friend, and explained how we were playing a game and that was why we weren't talking. His friend, Jacob then showed us around the boat, carefully showing us how to get the sails up and down, and how to work the steering wheel. But most interesting of all, was below deck, where there was a kitchen, and four beds with we could all sleep on if we got tired.

Mr. Stewart thanked Jacob, and we all waved his a goodbye as he got off the boat.

"Let's get this ship moving," Mr. Stewart announced when Jacob was far away. "Now if Oliver can help me with this sail, and you girls can pull that one up then we can be on our way."

The three of us nodded, and went to our stations – pulling the sails down, which was way harder than it looked. The four of us raced to see who could get theirs up first, and of course Miley and I won, being the better gender and all.

When we were done, Mr. Stewart got to the steering wheel, turned on some music on the stereo that we'd brought, and brought us out of the harbour slowly. Miley, Oliver and I sat at the tip of the boat, with our legs over the side and safely hanging out to the three metal bars that would stop us from going over the boat. "What if I gave you each five-dollars?" Mr. Stewart asked when we'd reached the end of the harbour. We all looked at him and shrugged, "Because this silent game is starting to get a little creepy."

I looked at Oliver and Miley, and the three of us nodded our heads, indicating that we would start talking again. "Alright," we said at the same time. We laughed at the coincidence, "now where's our five-dollars?"

Mr. Stewart reached into his pocket and took out three five-dollar bills, and distributed them between us. We thanked him and Mr. Stewart turned the music up and sang to it – very loudly.

Miley and I covered our ears, and ran for cover below deck, where as Oliver just sat there and continued to hang his legs over the boat.

While Miley and I were below deck, I realized that I should have been wearing a hat outside and hoped that my bare scalp wasn't burnt. When I reached up to feel my head, Miley got the clue, and picked up the hat she had brought. "Here Lil," She said, handing it to me with a smile. "And don't worry, your head isn't burnt."

"Thanks," I smiled back, gratefully taking the hat from my best friend's hand. I was so glad that she was acting as if this were normal. "So what do you want to do?"

Miley though, and sat down on the couch in the sitting room. "I don't know," Miley told me when I followed. "I'm getting a little sea sick, maybe we could sit a while and talk."

I nodded my head; that sounded like a good idea, "What do you want to talk about?" Miley shrugged, "How's school going?" I asked to break the ice.

"It's good," Miley told me, lying down on the couch. "But Mr. Larkin is only now giving us the study guides for the final, and the other teachers did that, like, three weeks ago. He can be so dumb sometimes." I mumbled an agreement, and Miley turned to face me, "Are you going to take the finals?"

I shook my head slowly and smiled at Miley even though I was breaking down inside, _I might not even be around for 10th grade, _I though to myself. "Probably not," I told Miley.

Miley nodded, "I have a Hannah event tonight," she told me. "Do you know if you can come?" I nodded, "Good." Miley smiled, "I feel better, do you want to go back up?"

I nodded, and Miley and I went up the steps to get to the boat, where we found Mr. Stewart teaching Oliver how to sail the boat.


	67. Problems' Arise

Oliver noticed us almost straight away, "Ahoy mateys." He yelled to me and Miley. Miley and I laughed and Miley slowly led me to where her dad and Oliver were standing. We sat down in the two chairs that were placed near the wheel, and grabbed the two water bottles that were handed to us by Mr. Stewart.

"Thanks," I told him as I drank from my bottle. Mr. Stewart nodded and turned the wheel a little more to the right as Oliver went the wrong way, "How much longer until we get to Catalina?"

Mr. Stewart looked out into the ocean and turned back to me, "another two hours." He told me, as I groaned at the thought of a whole two hours – I was anxious, because I'd never been to Catalina Island before, "This your first time to Catalina?" Mr. Stewart asked, reading my mind.

I nodded, "My dad hates the idea of being on a boat for more than an hour." I looked over at Miley and Oliver and I looked out into the ocean, getting up from my chair slowly and walking out onto the back of the boat so that I could hang my legs over the side again. As I got to the spot on the boat where there was nowhere that I could hold on to, my legs collapsed underneath me and I fell. From behind me, Miley helped me up, and asked if I was okay as she led me to my destination. She helped me down and then Miley joined me, resting her head on the long metal bar that rapped around the entire boat.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Miley asked me, interrupting the silence that was between us. I nodded, more tired now than ever, and turned back to looking at my feet dangling over the ocean. Miley was silent again for a little while, and then, she sighed and started to talk again when Oliver interrupted by sitting down next to me so that I was between him and Miley.

"Hey Lils," Oliver said when he'd settled. "How you feeling?"

I shrugged, starting to hate that question. Oliver nodded and the three of us started to talk about more normal subjects until Catalina came into view on the horizon.

"We'll be in Catalina in about ten minutes," Mr. Stewart sang from the steering wheel. We all cried out in joy and returned to our conversation. From behind us, I could hear Mr. Stewart turn up his oldies music and began to sing along as loud as possible.

We spent the day on the beach, Miley and Oliver went into the water for most of the time, while I stayed on the shore with Mr. Stewart. I was completely covered, long sleeved shirt, long pants and all because my skin couldn't be too exposed to the sun. When it started to get late, the four of us made our way to a local restaurant and got take out so that we could get back to Santa Monica in time to give the boat back. By that time my legs were so weak I was carried to the harbour by Mr. Stewart, and I was so tired that I fell asleep almost immediately as he picked me up. I briefly listened to Miley and Oliver's conversation before I blacked out.

Next time I woke up it was dark and there were three large and heavy blankets on top of me. I looked around at my surroundings to find myself below deck in the bed near the window where I could see Oliver, Miley and Mr. Stewart lying around and looking at the sunset. I knocked on the window weakly, but no one heard. I got up to try again, but I found myself too weak to do anything but collapse on the bed again. I fell asleep almost instantly as my head hit the pillow, so not only was I weak but exhausted. Only this time, I didn't wake up for anything. Distantly I could hear Miley and Oliver trying to wake me up, Mr. Stewart lifting me into his arms and bringing me up to the top of the boat, and shoving three pills into my mouth. After a while, I could hear Oliver and Miley running around in panic, and each minute their voices grew further and further away. I fought to open my eyes, and thankfully the noises became louder. Eventually, my eyes opened and I could finally see Miley, Oliver and Mr. Stewart standing over me. I could hear Mr. Stewart ask me if I was okay, but I couldn't respond any better than a nod. Mr. Stewart helped me up to my feet – and placed me on the first chair he could find.

**Miley's POV: **

Lily was pale, and shivering but I knew I couldn't do anything about it. It upset me now that I knew what was slowly killing Lily.

"Is she going to be alright?" I asked my dad once he'd taken Lily to sit on a chair near the steering wheel. My dad nodded, and I looked over at Oliver who hadn't talked since we'd found Lily downstairs. "Are you sure?" I asked my dad again.

Dad looked at me, with sad eyes – something that told me he was trying to positive but it just wasn't working out. "I don't know," my dad told me quietly. "We've got to get to shore quickly and then take her to Dr. Chow."

I nodded, and Oliver and I went to sit near Lily. She was still half unconscious, gripping the large blanket around her like she would die without it. Dad came quickly to the steering wheel and turned on the motor, which we hadn't used all day. We got back to Santa Monica in record timing, and ran off the boat into the car as soon as we hit land. My dad joined Oliver and I in the car with Lily in his hands after he explained what was happening to the friend that had lent us the boat.

"Keep the blanket around Lily," He told Oliver and I when he'd given Lily to us in the back. "And make sure to have her still conscious by the time we get to the hospital."

We nodded, and followed the directions. Oliver kept the blanket tight around Lily's neck, and every time she began to fall asleep again I would somehow wake her up.

By the time we were at the hospital Lily was getting worse. My dad took us around to the emergency room entrance instead of the walk-ins – that was when I knew.

"I need Dr. Chow," My dad demanded to the first doctor he found when we entered the double doors. The doctor looked at my dad as if he was crazy, and so he explained, "This is Lily Truscott." He told the doctor, who still seemed confused even as a nurse passing by heard.

"I'll go get him for you," The nurse told us. "Is Lily alright?"  
My dad shrugged, obviously recognizing this nurse, and she left to go look for Lily's doctor.

We sat down on the closest chairs we could find, the three of us in a lousy mood, and Lily almost unconscious in my dad's arms. It felt like forever before Dr. Chow came – even though, in reality it had been less than a minute. He came with clipboard in hand, and a very serious look on his face.

"Come with me Mr. Stewart," Dr. Chow said, pointing his clipboard to the room that I figured was his office. My dad got up, and before they got into the office, I heard Dr. Chow ask, "What are Lily's symptoms?" From then on, I couldn't hear.

I turned to Oliver, who was looking down at the floor. I started to say something, but nothing came out except for a soft sigh before I turned back to look at the closed door Mr. Stewart and Dr. Chow had gone through – I sighed again.

"Do you think Lily's going to be okay?" I asked Oliver in a whisper.

Oliver looked up slowly, and turned his head to face me. "I hope so," Oliver said in a whisper that was way quieter than mine. Oliver held his head in his hands, and gave me a small smile. "She's strong," he told me.

I nodded in agreement because I didn't feel like saying anything else. Only a day after I find out about Lily's cancer, something happens to her. I held back my tears, the image of Lily half conscious stuck in my head.

It seemed like another few hours before my dad came back out with Dr. Chow. When, according to my watch, it had only been about one. I ran straight up to my dad, as soon as he walked through the door, and Oliver was a few steps behind me.

"How is she?" I asked my dad, who was currently looking at the floor instead of straight at me – which would mean that Lily was fine.

I waited for the answer patiently. "Dr. Chow thought it would be best to readmit Lily to the hospital," dad told me quietly. "They don't know when – when she can be released again."


	68. Temporary Insanity

I nodded, my eyes tearing now at just the thought. Oliver comforted in his arms, as my dad stood close by telling me that it was going to be alright and that Lily was strong – basically, what I'd been told for the past few hours.

"Explain to me," I turned to my dad still tearful. "Explain exactly what's going on with Lily."

My dad and Oliver both looked at me in surprise; though I'm sure Oliver wanted to know the same thing. I waited for my dad to give me the answer patiently, as he probably thought of a good way to break it to me. As my dad started to talk, he took put one arm around me, and pulled me close.

"Lily's brain tumour is affecting the way Lily slips in and out of consciousness," my dad explained to me and Oliver. "And the doctors want to keep a close eye on her, because the brain tumour is growing more rapidly than they expected." My dad sighed, and I nodded for him to go on, "They think it might be a matter of time before Lily starts losing her senses."

All of a sudden I was a bit angry, "Aren't they going to do anything about that?" I asked my dad, quite loudly.

Dad nodded his head, and moved in front of me with his arms on my shoulders to calm me down. "Listen to me Miley," My dad told me, "The doctors are going to do all they can. I'm not taking Lily off of Chemotherapy yet – I promise you that. But remember, we want to make Lily as comfortable as we can, and in the end it might be her choice."

I nodded my head, analysing every word my dad said in my mind. Like what was the meaning of his 'yet', and 'it might be her choice'? Was it that, no matter what we did, Lily was going to die? I turned to Oliver, more tears in my eyes and walked slowly to the chairs that we'd been sitting on earlier.

"You can go and see her you know," My dad told me as he followed Oliver and I. I looked up, "But make it a short visit okay? We don't want Lily too stressed out." I nodded my head, and Oliver grabbed my hand as I figured out that my legs weren't working too well at the moment. Oliver pulled me towards the room that my dad had pointed us towards, while dad walked into Dr. Chow's office. Oliver stopped me at the door, putting his hands on my shoulders, and asked me if I was okay. I slowly nodded my head, and Oliver opened the door for me, walking in behind as I made my way towards the bed where Lily was asleep. I gasped at the sight of my best friend hooked up to IV's and machines that I didn't know the names of. There was a simple, thin tube placed up one nostril of Lily's nose, coming across her cheek and looping around Lily's ear – kept in place by a long and wide piece of medical tape. Immediately, I sat down on the bed, and held Lily's limp hand in mine as I sobbed even harder.

Oliver came over, and sat down next to me. "Lily's going to be fine," He told me quietly, rubbing my back as he did so.

I nodded slowly, looking down at the hospital bed, unable to look up. "How do you know that Oliver?" I asked through tears, "How do you know what's going to happen?"

Oliver sighed, and lifted my head up so that I was looking at him. "Truth is, that I don't," Oliver told me, his face clearly tear stained as well. "But maybe, if you believe it, it might happen."

I looked down again, and turned my head to look at Lily. I took her hand in both of mine, and squeezed it as I closed my eyes and hoped that she would be okay. When I opened my eyes, my dad had entered the room with Dr. Chow and they motioned for me and Oliver to take a seat at the table close to the window. Reluctantly we moved and sat, waiting for my dad and Dr. Chow to tell us what was going on.

Dr. Chow started by flipping through the papers on his clipboard, and then leaning back on his chair. "Luckily Lily's condition, at this moment, is manageable at home," Dr. Chow told us. "But we'll have to keep her under observation for the night." The two of us nodded, and quickly smiled to each other. I looked over at Lily, just the thought of her being able to come home made her look better already.

The three of us had to leave soon after our conversation with Dr. Chow. Not only because Oliver and I had to go to school the next day, but because the doctors were starting to run a few more tests on Lily. Oliver and my dad had to convince me to come out of the room with them. Eventually it took chocolate, and going out for dinner at my favourite restaurant Famous Pizza on the way home.

But when we got to the restaurant I didn't really feel like eating, so I shared a salad with Oliver while my dad got the waiter to pack up the large cheese pizza he'd ordered. I didn't know whether my loss of appetite was because I was exciting about Lily coming home, or nervous – my thoughts were racing, and I couldn't organize them.

"Are we ready to go then?" My dad asked, bringing me out of my own thoughts. I noticed that he had a box in his hands, the pizza, and realized it must have come when I wasn't paying attention. I nodded my head, and got out of the booth with Oliver right behind me. As we got into the car, everyone was quiet, it was quite late and I figured that everyone was just tired – so I looked out the window the entire way home.

I could hear Oliver waking up as we pulled into our driveway, and from the reflection in the window I could tell that he looked over at me to make sure that I was okay, but I still didn't move. "Miley?" Oliver asked quietly, asking if I was asleep or just ignoring him. I nodded my head, "Are you okay?"

Finally, I turned my head, and gave Oliver a genuine smile – which I hadn't done it ages. He smiled back and I opened the car door. "Do you want to go sit on the beach for a little while?" I asked Oliver as we approached the door to the house. Oliver nodded and we led each other in silence to the sandy stairs that brought us to the beach. We walked down to where the waves were breaking, but just far enough to keep our feet dry. I sat down on the wet sand first, not caring what happened to my jeans, and looked up at the stars. Oliver struggled to join, as normal, but eventually sat right next to me putting his coat around my shoulders.

"It's a beautiful night," I whispered to Oliver, and he nodded.

We sat there for a little more than an hour, saying nothing – deciding to go in when the tide had accidentally run over our feet and half way up our thighs. Oliver and I ran into the house soaking wet, ignoring the yells from my dad in the kitchen, and racing into the bathroom screaming at each other to determine who got to change first. I had trouble getting in because Oliver was so strong that he was just about to win. I was smaller than he was, and much easier to move around – so therefore, Oliver ended up changing before I did, and I walked around the top floor of the house and eventually found myself in Lily's room.

I looked around at the walls, that Lily, my dad and I had painted the colour orange a couple of weeks ago. Lily had covered half of the room in posters and pictures, so that you could hardly see the wall anymore. But, what was unusual was the fact that Lily had cleaned the floor and everything was neat and tidy in their own place. I sat on Lily's bed, hanging my feet over the side so that I wouldn't make her covers wet. I leaned back so that my head was touching the pillows, and waited for the sound in the bathroom to die down indicating that I could now change.

"Miley?" I heard Oliver ask in the hallway. I could hear him going down the hall to my room and checking inside. "Miley?" I heard Oliver ask again, and to spare him the torture, I made a noise. "Are you in Lily's room?" Oliver asked when he heard me. I yelled yes, and Oliver walked in and sat down next to me, "What you doing?" I shrugged my shoulders and sat up next to Oliver. "You can have the bathroom now,' Oliver told me. I nodded my head, and got up to leave.

When I came back out, I looked back in Lily's room and found it empty. I called out his name, and got an answer from downstairs where, now that I paid attention, I could hear the quiet strumming of a guitar. I smiled, and walked down the stairs in two's, to find my dad and Oliver sitting on the couch. The source of the guitar was my dad; of course, he was singing one of my favourites – Stand. I joined them on the couch, and sang along, when we stopped my dad turned to me.

"How you doing Bud?" He asked placing the guitar on the ground next to him. I shrugged my shoulders, and my dad started again. "Your record company wants you to play a show in Washington this weekend," dad told me, "Do you feel up to it?"


	69. She'sss Backkkk

I shrugged my shoulders and nodded slightly. I felt that as Hannah Montana I owed the fans at least something after not performing for weeks and weeks. "I'll do it," I told my dad, who seemed a little surprised at my answer, "But what about Lily?"

"She can come with us," My dad told me straight out. "I'm sure if there's someone by Lily's side all the time, then she'll be fine, maybe Oliver could come." I nodded, and looked over at Oliver, "So I'll call the record company then?" My dad asked when he realized that he should leave. I nodded again, and my dad got up and went into his office.

Alone, Oliver and I were silent until my dad came back into the living room. "I was thinking," I told my dad, turning around so that I was facing him. "What if my concert in Washington were a benefit concert," My dad turned. "You know, for other kids with brain tumours."

My dad smiled, "that sounds like a great idea Miley." He told me, smiling again and then turning back to the stove.

Happy with myself, I grabbed Oliver and ran up to my room to pack – as the weekend was approaching soon. We sat in my Hannah Closet picking out clothes silently, occasionally looking up at each other, and folding the outfits into a large suitcase that I'd put in the middle of the room. When we were done, Oliver sighed, and looked up at me with a smile.

"I guess I should be getting home," he told me in half a whisper. "Get to packing myself."

I nodded, getting up from my seat on the floor and following Oliver through the door and downstairs where he went out to the porch and walked to his house via the beach. I watched him leave before going back into the house and sitting back down on the couch. It was late outside, and I was tired but for some reason I couldn't fall asleep. I wondered how Lily was doing in the hospital, whether she was doing okay or there was another emergency that would stop her from coming home when she was supposed to.

"Miley?" I heard my dad from the kitchen, where he had been washing the dishes, "Do you know how late it is?" I shrugged, turned around to face my dad, and watched as he looked at him watch. "Past midnight," I shrugged again, and turned around so that I wasn't facing my dad anymore, but I could feel my dad come over and sit down on the chair next to me. "Why aren't you sleeping?" He asked me, seriously.

I turned to look at him again, "Because Lily's in the hospital." I told him, leaning my head on the arm rest.

"Nothing's going to change if you fall asleep," My dad told me, taking a sip from the coffee in his hand. He pressed his forehead against mine, "I promise."

I nodded my head, taking my forehead away and grabbing a pillow to hug. "Can I go with you tomorrow?" I asked, after a little bit of silence, "When you go and pick Lily up?"

My dad thought about it first, especially because the pick up was during school hours, but I got him to nod. "Of course," My dad whispered, placing a blanket on top of me, "you can come, but only if you get to sleep right now." I nodded, now, for some reason, I was getting sleepier.

Dad kissed me on the forehead, and got up from his chair, "Good night Miley," he whispered before he left the room. I whispered good night back sleepily, snuggling under my covers a little more, and eventually falling asleep.

Next I knew I was being woken up by Oliver, who was trying his hardest to torture me, like I torture him.

"What," I asked Oliver when he'd poked me. "What do you want?"

Oliver laughed, and sat down on the couch where I had cleared my legs. "You have to wake up," Oliver told me. "We're just about to drive to the hospital to pick up Lily."

Immediately, I stood up from the couch, picking the covers up with me and wrapping them around myself. "How many minutes do I have to get dressed?" I asked Oliver, who was still sitting down.

Oliver looked at his watch, and then at the clock in the kitchen, "ten minutes." He told me, as I started to rush up from the couch and run up the stairs.

From behind me I could hear Oliver and my dad laughing, but I was in too much of a hurry to pay attention. When I got up to my room, I rushed into my closet – picked up a pair of jeans, shirt and a sweatshirt and then came back downstairs again where I found my dad and Oliver talking in the kitchen. Immediately, as they saw me, the three of us walked out of the door, leaving a note for Jackson, and getting into the car to drive.

Unlike usual, the car ride to the hospital seemed to take seconds for me, instead of hours. I hardly noticed any of the scenery around me through Malibu and Santa Monica, too distracted by the loud music coming from the radio and Oliver talking to my right. And, when we did get to the hospital, I hardly stalled before getting out of the car and racing Oliver to the front desk.

"Good morning Oliver and Miley," the nurse at the front desk smiled at us. I recognized her as Lily's day nurse. "How are you this morning? Lily's coming home, I bet you're excited."

"Super excited," I told the nurse, leaning on the desk to wait for my dad. "How is she?"

Oliver looked over, eager to know the answer as well. "Lily's doing wonderfully," the nurse told us enthusiastically. "Still a little under the weather, but I think she's definitely ready to come home."

"Great," My dad said, coming behind us and wrapping his arms around our shoulders. "Now where can we find Lily?"

The nurse smiled, "Down this hallway," she pointed. "Room 127, and then you can check her out right here when you're ready."

My dad thanked the nurse, and we walked down the hallway together until we reached Lily's room. Like always, I took a deep breath in before I walked in and looked at Lily in the bed. She was sitting up reading a magazine, which was better than usual. Lily's hat was off revealing her completely bald head and the only tube attached to her was for medicine, and it was going through one nostril of her nose, held in place with one piece of tape, exactly the same as when we'd seen her the first night. Lily smiled as she watched us walk through the door, and threw her magazine on the table next to her.

"You guys took forever!" Was the first thing out of Lily's mouth as Oliver and I sat down on her bed, "I've been up since 5 this morning – because well, me and my nurse Betsy decided that we should celebrate, and … and we went down to the cafeteria and cake, and juice and yum. And I was really excited, you were coming and I was coming home and I can sleep in my own bed…"

"Alright, alright," Oliver and my dad said at the same time, "I think we get it Lily."

Lily laughed and got up from her bed, "Can we go now then?"

My dad nodded, picking Lily's overnight bag off of the floor in the corner of the room and walked out with the three of us behind him.

* * *

**A/N: So SO SOO SOOO sorry that I haven't updated in almost forever! I'm, like, the worst person ever. I've been skating almost 4 times a day lately in preperation for a Christmas show I'm doing in a couple of weeks, and I've been LOADED in school work. Plus, it doesn't help that my bedroom window is right in front of the beach - so for half of the day, I'm looking at the Australian kids having fun outside in the fun! Anyway, I don't think any of those should count as excuses!  
I'll post more often now! I promise promise promise... just one more month of homeschooling and I don't have to do it anymore - then I'm completely free to post 14 times a week.. (alright, so that might not happen.) But, there is DEFINATELY more to come.  
-Rosie**


	70. Something Bad

**A/N: Soooo sorry about not posting any sooner guys! I've been working on this one really hard - and tried my best to make the post long! Enjoy the suspense, by the way!  
****Oh, and since I'm finally off for the week, consider this a preview of what's to come!  
****-Rosie  
****P.S and have a safe and healthy holidays everyone!  
****P.P.S Thanks for everyone's support throughout this story, it's been great having some good feedback and I'll definately keep writing stories on here.  
****P.P.P.S For those of you who are reading my new story Scars (if any of you are), I'll be sure to update that sometime during vacation as well!****

* * *

**

**Lily's POV:**

Immediately as Miley, Oliver and I got into the car we started to talk, all at once. The music was blaring from the front, Mr. Stewart was singing along, and I was trying to block the noise.

I thought back to my visit to the hospital, what the doctor and nurse had told me while I was there. Well, actually I wasn't supposed to hear, the doctor had been talking to my parents on the phone and I accidentally overheard.

Apparently, I wasn't responding to the chemotherapy anymore, and they wanted to send me to a hospital in Utah that specialized with my kind of brain tumour. But even if they wanted to send me, and my parents agreed to it, I wouldn't go. I told myself that immediately as I heard the doctors talk to each other. I wanted to be with my friends here in Malibu, even if it meant…

"Are you okay?" Miley asked, bringing me out of my daze. I nodded, noticing that we were home now, "Are you sure?" Miley asked again, being the over protective friend that she's been since I met her.

I nodded my head, "of course." I told Miley with a smile. Miley smiled back, and got out of the car to help her dad with the wheelchair the hospital had assigned to me. Apparently, I'd basically lost my ability to stand on my own.

Mr. Stewart opened the door to my surprise, as I'd gone into another day dream. He was holding my unfolded wheelchair in front of me, and reached into the car so that he could lift me up. "Welcome home Lily," Mr. Stewart told me as we went up the driveway and went into the house. "How are you feeling?"

I looked up, and tried to turn myself around so that I was facing Mr. Stewart, but it didn't work very well. "I'm fine," I told Miley's dad, completely ignoring the pain in both of my legs and stomach. "I'm really glad to be home, in my own bed for once."

Mr. Stewart smiled, and wheeled me into the living room with Oliver and Miley behind me. Mr. Stewart lifted me up again and put me onto the couch so that we could all wrap up in blankets and watch movies all afternoon. And despite the fact that Miley and Oliver had school tomorrow, the three of us stayed up until 12:30 eating M&M's and popcorn and watching almost every movie the Stewarts had.

Then the sugar rush kept us up for the rest of the night, in the guest room since we couldn't get me up the stairs, and the three of us played card games on the floor – the big bowl of M&M's still next to us.

"Go Fish," I told Oliver, who was half asleep with his cards nearly down to the floor so that Miley and I could see them. When Oliver didn't respond, I waved my hand in front of his face, "Oliver?"

I looked at Miley, who shrugged, "Guess he couldn't stay awake any longer." Miley told me as she got up from her sitting position and stood up next to Oliver. "Hmm," Miley whispered, "I would get you to help me put him in the bed, but of course." I nodded, "Hold on, I'll go get the mattress from the cabinet."

I nodded again, scooting myself closer to Oliver as he began to snore. I laughed softly, and waited for Miley and come back so that I could get to sleep myself. But Miley was taking a long time to get back, at least in my books, and so I attempted to get myself up onto the bed. I tried numerous times, but each try my fall would get worse and I started to get weaker.

"Lily?" Someone whispered from inside the room. I looked around, and found no one but Oliver still sitting on the floor. I jumped as Oliver got up from the floor and came to my side, "You shouldn't be doing that on your own." Oliver whispered to me as he pulled me up on top of the bed, "You could really hurt yourself."

I shrugged, frustrated with the fact that I couldn't do anything on my own. I pulled myself to the other side of the bed and turned over on my side so that I was no longer facing Oliver. But instead of walking away like most people would, I felt Oliver get onto the bed with me and scoot next to me. I felt his hand on my bare arm, and him turning me around again so that I faced him. Oliver smiled, lying down and holding me in place so I didn't try to turn around.

"Are you okay Lily?" Oliver asked me in a whisper, "Because if you aren't I could get Mr. Stewart and we won't have to go to Washington this weekend."

I nodded, "I'm fine Oliver." I whispered back, "Just a little aggravated is all."

Oliver sighed and sat up on his elbow, "Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head, and Oliver said nothing else. He merely smiled and sat his head back down on the pillow. I started to speak again, to tell Oliver what was on my mind, but I couldn't bring up the courage. "Do you think I should go to Utah?" I asked Oliver, who knew nothing about the situation.

Oliver looked at me, and smiled, "What's in Utah Lily?" He asked, getting up on his elbows again. When I didn't respond Oliver asked again, "Lily? Is everything alright?"

I shrugged my shoulders, struggling to pick myself upright. "Utah," I sighed to Oliver, "In Utah there's a huge medical facility that Dr. Chow suggested." Oliver continued to listen, waiting for me to explain. I looked down at the quilt on the bed, and whispered the last sentence, "I'm not responding to treatment anymore, and this place specializes in my kind of brain tumour."

When I finished Oliver sat up next to me, and placed his hand on my shoulder, "What do you want to do?" Oliver asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders again, lying back down on the pillow and turning around to face the wall, I slowly mumbled, "I don't want to go."

I heard Oliver sigh, get off of the bed and go into the kitchen, while Miley walked in with the mattress. I pretended to sleep to get out of conversation, and listened to Oliver and Miley talk about me in whispers until I actually fell asleep for real.

"Did you know that Lily isn't responding to treatment anymore?" I heard Oliver ask Miley.

Miley sighed, and I could feel the end of the bed sink as she sat down, "I didn't." Miley told him, "But, I mean, we all knew it was going to happen."

When Oliver didn't say anything I couldn't believe it, this whole family knew about what my doctor was saying about me behind my back. 'But I didn't want it to happen this soon," Oliver said eventually. "Lily only just started chemotherapy a couple of months ago."

"I know," Miley whispered, shifting her position so that she was looking at me. "Dad said he'd bring Lily to Utah, but she keeps on refusing to go."

"Utah's so far away," Oliver said back, getting up from the bed. "I don't think Lily wants to be that far from home, and without us."

Miley got up from the bed as well, and I heard the mattress being moved around the floor. "But it would be what's best for her," Miley retorted when they'd finished moving the bed. "I want Lily to be around for the 10th grade, it wouldn't be the same without her."

After that, I basically tuned out on their conversation and found myself falling asleep. My stomach was in knots trying to figure out whether I would continue with chemo in Utah or not, and I had a lot of nightmares throughout the night which woke me up numerous times.

By the time Mr. Stewart and Jackson came to wake us up I was exhausted and could hardly even open my eyes. Oliver and Miley, on the other hand, were perky and ready to get to school even though, they had also stayed up all night. I gave each a weak goodbye before they went off, and went back to sleep almost immediately.

When I was woken up again, Miley and Oliver were back from school and, from the sounds of it, at the kitchen counter. I slowly got myself off of the bed, creating a loud thump that caused everyone to come running – which I hadn't meant to happen.

"Sorry guys," I smiled, still sleepy. "I was going to come into the kitchen myself, but I guess it didn't work."

"That's alright Lily," Mr. Stewart laughed, grabbing me from the floor and picking me up into his arms. "Are you okay? It sounded like a big fall."

I nodded my head, ignoring the pain in my legs, arms and head and allowing Mr. Stewart and Jackson bring me into the kitchen. As I was placed on the kitchen stool my head fell into my arms when I realized the time, and noticed how dark it was outside. I groaned, trying to get off of the stool I was sitting on, but my legs collapsed underneath me, and I fell down to the floor. Everyone rushed to me in a second, with 'are you okay's' and 'Does anything hurt'. I shook my head again, and tried to get up by myself again, but as soon as I tried Jackson and Mr. Stewart were by my side lifting me up. They then walked me to the couch where I was covered with a blanket and instantly fell asleep again.

Next I knew, I was being woken up by Mr. Stewart. "Lily?" He whispered, shaking my shoulder a little bit, I groaned. "We've got to go pick Oliver and Miley up from school, are you all packed for Seattle?"

I turned around to face Mr. Stewart and nodded my head, "When's our flight?" I asked him, sleepily.

Mr. Stewart looked at his watch and then back at me, "We've got to get to the airport in two hours." He told me, getting up from his spot on the floor and walking towards the door. "Do you think you'll be ready?"

I waved my hand as if to say yes, and heard Mr. Stewart open and close the door and start the engine to leave for the school. Meanwhile, I sat up on the couch, surveying myself – in my flannel pajamas and loose tank top. I lowered myself down to the floor and tried to scoot myself across the floor until I got to my bedroom, which Mr. Stewart had moved all of my clothes into when he figured out I couldn't use the stairs. When I got there, it was quite a bit later, and I could hear Miley and Oliver walking through the door.

"Sweet Nibblits," I heard Mr. Stewart say when he walked in, "Where has that girl gone now?"

I almost yelled to say I was in my room, but the scoot across the living room and kitchen floor tired me out and I could get my voice to work. Instead I reached for the alarm clock that was lying on the bedside table, and blasted the first radio station that I could find.

Almost immediately Oliver came into the room, followed by Miley, "Are you okay?" Was the first thing out of both of their mouths. And boy was I getting sick of that question.  
I nodded my head and weakly told Miley and Oliver what I was trying to do. "I want to pack the rest of my clothes," I told Oliver, who proceeded to get a suitcase from my closet. "We leave for Seattle in a couple of hours, and I haven't finished packing yet."

Miley laughed, getting me up on the bed, and helped Oliver – who was struggling to get the suitcase from all of the junk, grab the bag and then pack it as I told them what I wanted.

"Well," Miley sighed as she sat down on the bed next to me. "I guess me and Oliver should get packing too."

I laughed, and nodded my head, "Have fun." I told them, "And thanks for helping me pack mine."

Miley and Oliver smiled, and got up, walking towards the door and into their own rooms. I smiled, and lowered myself on the floor again. I took the handle of my suitcase, and dragged it to the floor so that the suitcase was on its wheels, and I could bring it into the living room myself. But when Mr. Stewart saw me doing that, he insisted that he helped. This was another thing I was starting to get annoyed about – everyone babying me. I was about to protest when I was scooped into Jackson's arms and brought to the couch. I had to watch Mr. Stewart take my suitcase and have no strength to help, no matter how much I wanted to.

Finally, It was time to get to the airport. I was loaded into the car by Jackson, and Miley and Oliver got in after that. It wasn't a very long drive to LAX from the house – which was good, because then it gave Mr. Stewart less time to blast his oldies music. At drop off Mr. Stewart let Miley, Oliver and I out of the car and with the baggage. I sat on top of the trolley that held the luggage, while Miley and Oliver wheeled us inside to wait for Miley's dad. The three of us sat on a bench across from the large desk that passengers check into, and listened to our iPods until we felt a light tap on our shoulders.

"Are you all ready to go?" Mr. Stewart asked when we turned around to face him. We nodded, and Mr. Stewart took the handlebars of the trolley I was sitting on with the luggage, and wheeled us towards the desk that we'd been sitting in front of. "Then let's go to Seattle," Mr. Stewart whispered as he handed the online tickets to the lady behind the desk.

Miley, Oliver and I looked at each other in excitement, and we waited for Mr. Stewart to be done.

Twenty minutes later, we were at baggage check in, and I had to get off of the trolley. From there, I spent the rest of the time on Mr. Stewarts back.

"Lily," Mr. Stewart laughed as I got onto his back. "You're as light as a feather."

I shrugged, yawning as I remembered how tired I was from lack of sleep last night. "Hmm," I mumbled in response, as I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep. In the distance, I could hear Oliver and Miley talking about plans for when we landed in Seattle. Miley would have to get ready for her concert almost as soon as we landed, but then afterwards Oliver was insisting that we go to the Hard Rock Café.

In my mind, I asked myself whether or not there was a Hard Rock Café in Seattle or not, but I was too tired to say anything.

Next I knew Miley and Oliver were standing above me. I looked around and noticed I was sitting on one of the cushioned chairs they provided in the first class lounge, and a warm woollen blanket was covering my body. I was cold, I could feel it now – I was shivering I couldn't do anything to stop them.

"It's almost time to board," Miley told me, taking my hands and lifting me up from my lying position. I groaned, "Oh come on Lily." Miley laughed, "You can sleep on the plane."

Oliver laughed as well, "You know." Oliver told me, sitting down on the seat, "You've been asleep for almost three hours now."

I looked up at Mr. Stewart, holding my blanket close to me. "Is that true?" I asked, "I'm sorry I fell asleep, you didn't have to carry me on your back too long, did you?"

Mr. Stewart shook his head, half listening to the announcements over the loud speaker. "Don't worry about it Lily," Mr. Stewart shrugged, "You're so light, I hardly remember carrying you." I smiled, and Mr. Stewart picked me up again as he heard that the first class passengers were allowed to board. I was excited, this being my first time on first class but still sleepy at the same time. Almost the instant I was put down on my seat, I fell asleep into the soft cushion and hid underneath the warmth of the blanket. Oliver, who was sitting next to me, put my seat down to fully horizontal position, surprising me as I had had my eyes closed at the time. I opened them for a brief second, gave Oliver a smile, and fell back to sleep once again.

For the millionth time that day, I was woken up by another disruption. A flight attendant was standing next to Oliver and I, pushing a big tray full of good smelling foods. But I couldn't muster up enough energy to even tell the flight attendant what I wanted. In the end, Oliver ended up getting me one of the snacks, and a soda – but I just fell asleep on the table it was placed on, only remembering I had gotten it once we had landed in Seattle and I was violently waken by Miley.

The weather outside was horrible. With hail and heavy rain I wasn't sure how Mr. Stewart was going to get us to our hotel. But without doubt Mr. Stewart rented a car, and we made it outside to the lot where our rental was held. The four of us jumped into the car, in hopes of not getting wet, and set out on our way.

Halfway down the highway I started to get this bad feeling that I couldn't shake off. It wasn't car sickness, because I wasn't nauseous or light headed, but it was more like I knew something bad was going to happen.

Suddenly, I heard Oliver, who was in the front seat, scream. Never having heard him scream so high, I turned my head around quickly, and watched as Mr. Stewart and Oliver's faces lit up as headlights came towards us. As if in slow motion I watched the car come closer, and heard my own scream along with Mr. Stewart's and Miley's. Oliver's body went forward, as Mr. Stewart swerved the car, but now the crash was on my side. I screamed once more, watching as Oliver and Mr. Stewart's faces disappeared into the airbags. Before I blacked out, I heard Miley hit Oliver's seat, and the window smash – a long beep as if from a horn, and distant sirens.


	71. Hospital Miley and Oliver

**Hey Guys! Sorry Sorry Sorry about not posting lately! My cousin Jen just got engaged while we were in Paris together over the holiday and we all flew back to LA to hang out with the rest of my family and to celebrate! So again, sorry about not posting - I'll be back in Australia on Thursday, and will d****efinitely** **post on Friday!  
Hope this chapter isn't too boring! -Rosie****

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**Miley's POV:**

As I heard the sirens come closer I struggled to open my eyes. My vision was blurry at first, but I could clearly make out that Lily was definitely not okay. Not only had the impact caused Lily to hit the seat in front of her, but the glass that shattered had drawn deep cuts into Lily's unconscious body. Barely listening to my dad's reassurance from the front of the car, I leaned toward Lily's side and tried to wake her up.

"Lily," I whispered, tears now running down my face. "Come on, you have to wake up, please be okay Lily. You can't do this – not now." I shook Lily's arm, but it only made her body move forward. I cried harder, finding it harder to stay awake now that black was starting to surround my thoughts again.

I woke up again to find myself on a gurney heading for the emergency room entrance. Beside me Oliver and My dad were being brought in by wheelchairs, as their injuries were not as bad. Unfortunately, I couldn't see Lily anywhere, no matter how much I tried to look at my surroundings and find her. As the nurses held me down, apparently the IV's were starting to come out from my struggle, I looked over at my dad and he smiled at me sadly.

Thankfully, my dad looked okay – other than a few cuts and bruises here and there. When I looked further to the left, I noticed that Oliver as well, was okay with the exception of a huge cast on his hand. I sighed in relief for a brief second as the nurse and doctor wheeled me into a large white room. It was then that I remembered – Lily had been in the accident as well, and I hadn't seen her for a while. I turned my head fast to look over at my dad, who was sitting at my bedside holding my hand. I was about to ask what happened to Lily, when a doctor interrupted, and my dad's thoughts were now on what the doctor was saying. I hadn't listened, but judging on the brave face my dad put on for me, it didn't look good. My dad sighed, and got up from his chair, going outside and down the hallway. I'd guessed that my dad had gone for coffee in the cafeteria, but when he came back into the room with Oliver on a gurney and a doctor, I knew it wasn't good.

My dad sighed again, and sat on the end of Oliver's bed, which Oliver was being transferred onto from the gurney. As soon as the doctor was done with that, and had left the room, my dad started. "I'm so glad you guys are okay," My dad said, taking each one of our hands and holding them in his. "This is the scariest night of my life, and it's not even over yet," he closed his eyes to hold back tears, and squeezed our hands. "You may be wondering what happened to Lily." I nodded, looking over at Oliver for the first time since he entered the room, "Lily's in surgery – the accident caused blood to flow into her brain and they're trying to relieve the pressure. She's broken three of her ribs, and one punctured her lung, so it's getting harder for her breathe."

I stared at the ceiling taking this all in, "So what's going to happen?" I asked my dad, refusing to look him in the eyes. "Is Lily going to be alright?"

Dad smiled again, and looked down at the floor. He didn't answer my question, ignoring it so that he could pretend that everything was fine. So I didn't bother to ask again, and instead slouched back into my bed and stared at the ceiling again until a nurse came in and gave Oliver and I a shot that would make us fall asleep.

When I woke up again, the room was dark because the shades had been brought down, and my dad was nowhere in the room. I could hear Oliver breathing, so I knew he was still here, but everything else in the hospital seemed calm. After finding out that I was no longer attached to anything such as an IV or heart monitor, I got up from my bed – even though I knew it was probably breaking the hospital rules. I walked into the hallway, passing some nurses and doctors that were too busy with their work to see that I'd gotten out of bed and walked straight up to the front desk where I asked which room Lily was in. The nurse had looked at me with a questioning face, but told me that Lily was in the recovery room on the second floor.

I quickly walked to the elevator, and pushed the button with much impatience until the doors closed shut and I was finally going down to the second floor. Just before the doors opened for me, I took a deep breath, preparing myself for what I was about to see; what I already knew what going to be bad. When the doors opened, I walked out and came face to face with my dad.

"The nurse said you'd asked where Lily was," My dad told me with a smirk on his face. "But are you really prepared for it?"


	72. Viva Forever

**Hey guys! I'm super sorry that I haven't updated in forever! I feel really bad about it, so I tried to make this a long update. Can't wait to hear your reactions!  
-Rosie**

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My Dad then led me through the halls of the floor, making sure to comfort me the best way he could. I knew at that point he knew something I didn't, and I was worried about what I was going to find once we entered Lily's room. At the door, my dad stopped me and put his hands on my shoulders so that I was facing him.

"Remember," he told me in a whisper. "Lily's going to be pretty banged up. If you feel uncomfortable in there they I want you to tell me, okay?"

I nodded, and my dad tried to look me in the eyes before he let go of me. I continued to look down at the floor instead, and nodded again. I just wanted him to open the door so that I could see my best friend. I hoped that Lily would be up and sitting in her bed reading a magazine, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I closed my eyes as my dad opened the door, praying silently. I felt my dad lead me to Lily's bed and ask me to open my eyes, but I just couldn't do it. My dad sat me down on the bed, and still with my eyes closed, I could hear the beeping of Lily's heart monitor and the uneven breathing for the life support. I told myself to open my eyes, and I did, one at a time. First I opened my right eye, farthest from Lily's face so that wouldn't have to be what I saw first. With that eye open I could see Lily's legs wrapped up in tons of gauze and medical tape. There was blood forming underneath the bandages that you could see seeping through, making the gauze red. At that moment I was afraid of what I would see when I opened my other eye, afraid that the injuries done to her head were far worse. But I knew I would have to eventually, otherwise later on I would be too afraid to try again. I opened my other eye, and gasped at the sight. There were several deep gashes on Lily's forehead that weren't covered, and one across her baldhead. The one across her head was the only gash covered, but behind the gauze, little pieces of the wound were visible. Lily's eye was covered with a large wad of tissue and even more medical tape – you could see a deep purple, blue and green bruise forming underneath that expanded to the other side of her forehead. She was sound asleep, a blue and clear tube going through her half open mouth and down her throat to help her breath, taped to the side of her cheek so it couldn't be pulled out easily. The feeding tube, which fed Lily nutrients and medicine, was still up her nose and taped right along side the life support. Lily's entire left forearm was bandaged with multiple layers of gauze, and I noticed that her two first fingers were turning purple. There were three IV's in the other arm, two to the fold of her arm, and one to the hand. On the left hand four of her fingers were turning purple, and it was creeping up her wrist. There were several tiny cuts, caused by the glass window that was shattered in the accident, and an even deeper bruise than the one of Lily's forehead covering her elbow. I sucked in my breath, wishing that my tears would go away, but some had already escaped. I closed my eyes and lay my head down on the bed near Lily's arm, and finally let everything fall. I lay there sobbing, completely forgetting that my dad was even there in the room with me until I felt his arm around me.

"Is she going to be alright?" I asked him, as loud as my voice would go, "Is Lily going to be alright?"

My eyes were still closed but I could feel my dad's look. It was sympathetic and worried, and I knew he wasn't going to tell me the whole truth, the bad news.

He sighed, "We'll see in time." Dad told me, making me cry even harder onto the bed. My dad placed his hand on my shoulder again, "Why don't we go up and see Oliver."

All of a sudden I shot up, and gave my dad a look. I was angry with him for suggesting that I leave Lily. But I also realized that Oliver probably needed someone as well, he was going through the same thing at the moment.

I nodded my head slowly, and allowed my dad to pick me up from the bed. He took me into his arms, pulling the IV stand with him and me, wheeling it through the door and up the hallway. I was weak from crying, and continued crying despite the fact that I didn't think I had any tears left. I didn't even realize that we'd entered Oliver's room when we had, because I was so out of it. My dad placed me on the bed next to Oliver's, which I noticed the doctors had moved my get well cards and blanket to. I welcomed the head, barely saying hello to Oliver and almost immediately fell asleep without realizing it. Sleep was so comforting that I didn't want to be woken up, it was my way out of reality and I liked acting as if nothing had happened and imagining myself and Lily back in Malibu. I was very upset when a doctor came to wake me up just so he could stick another thermometer in my mouth; it wasn't like I needed my temperature checked every hour. But even after the doctor left I couldn't fall back asleep again. I was an annoying human trait that once you're awake for more than five minutes then you can't go back to sleep.

So instead of trying, I turned over on my side and looked over at Oliver, "How are you doing?" I asked quietly, knowing fully well that he wasn't actually sleeping.

Oliver groaned and turned over on his side so that we were facing each other, "I'm a little sore, but that's what the morphine's for." I laughed, "I heard you went to go visit Lily, how was she?"

I shook my head, hoping that would be a good enough answer, "Worse than us." I told Oliver, while also trying to think of another question to avoid the conversation, "When do you think they serve food around here?"

Oliver shrugged, "What time is it?"

I smiled, "What is this, the question game?" Oliver shrugged, and turned over on his back, "I don't know." I told Oliver.

Oliver turned around, questioning me with the look on his face. I knew he wondered whether I was talking about the time, but I wasn't. "I don't know how Lily's going to be," I finished, fresh tears falling down my face.

"Oh," Oliver whispered, so that I could barely hear his response. He sat there for a second, staring at the ceiling even though there was nothing interesting about the tiles. "I think she's going to be okay," Oliver sighed, turning over so that his face was opposite mine.

I gave him a small smile, glad that Oliver always saw the silver lining in every situation, but I didn't believe it myself. And I know that that makes me sound like such a bad friend, but at this moment in time I didn't have any hope at all. I knew Lily was lying in her bed, barely breathing and probably in pain. As much as I hated to admit it, this was Lily's way out. Her way out of more cancer treatments that would make her weak and tired until the very end. No more throwing up in the bathroom at three in the morning, and twelve at night. I really thought that this accident may have been faith – that this was the incident in which was supposed to take Lily's life. I didn't like to see my best friend suffer, I had been for a couple of months now and I don't think any of us were prepared to see Lily go through treatments again.

I sighed, like Oliver had before, "Are you going to see Lily?" I asked, avoiding the morbid subject. Oliver shifted in his bed, and shrugged his shoulders.

He sighed, taking a long sip from his water bottle, "I don't think I could handle it." Oliver sat there unable to look at me. He kept looking up at the ceiling, looking back and fourth at the long blue and yellow stripes along the wallpaper on the walls. I knew he wasn't going to say anything else and I wasn't going to force him to. There were different ways of dealing with what was going on, and apparently boys give you silent treatment instead of talking about their feelings.

Soon enough I feel asleep, the room was too quiet and my dad wasn't around, so obviously there was nothing else to do. It was also pretty late at night, actually more like early in the morning. It hadn't been too long since the accident, it had only happened last night, but it felt like so much longer.

When I woke up again it was afternoon, not that that would be surprising, but it turned out that I'd slept all through the day and night, and it was actually the next day. My nurse had been so relieved that I'd fallen asleep that she didn't want to wake me up, even when last night Lily went into respiratory distress. Oliver and I were told that the hospital wasn't expecting Lily to make it through another night. The accident had crushed her chest and punctured her lungs, and ever if she were to wake up the damage to Lily's head would make it so she'd never be the same again.

"This afternoon," My dad explained in a whisper to both Oliver and I. "We're all going to go into Lily's room and say goodbye. Then the doctors are going to take her off of life support."

I nodded my head slowly, tears running down my cheeks so that my eyesight was blurry. My nose was running, and my hands were shaking. My stomach dropped, I felt nauseous, like everything I'd eaten for lunch was going to come back up again. My dad lay me back down on my bed, and tucked me into the covers. I was numb, I felt as if I were watching this from somewhere else.

I watched me, and Oliver go down the long hallways with two nurses pushing our wheelchairs. My dad was by my side, holding my hand, but I was too busy sobbing quietly. When we reached the elevator I was no longer numb, I was fully aware of all the pain I was in.

I reached my other hand over to Oliver's free hand. We held hands until the elevator opened to the next floor, I took a deep breath in, this was it. My dad took over our wheelchairs and excused the nurses so that we were alone. Slowly we made our way towards Lily's room, and my dad stopped both of our chairs near the bed.

We were slightly shorter than the bed, but I could still see Lily from where I was sitting. She was peaceful which was nice, so I held her hand. "I'm always going to remember you," I started. "The way you would make me laugh even when I was down in the dumps, how you would stick by my side no matter what. I loved finally having someone to trust with my secret, I couldn't even do that with any of my friends in Tennessee. You're the best friend I've ever had, and I'm going to miss you." Tears ran down my face, but I smiled as I remembered everything we'd been through together.

"When I met you in the first grade," I heard Oliver say next to me. "I talked to you because you had chocolate milk for lunch and I was jealous. The first thing I said to you was hey, look over there. And I stole your milk. I was felt so guilty that I came to school the next day and gave you a cupcake, and we've been friends ever since. You make me smile Lily, even just when thinking about you. Miley and I are going to have a tough time, but we'll try to celebrate you life instead of mourning it, just like you've always said you wanted."

Oliver didn't cry, or at least not noticeably. My dad rubbed our backs in small circles and tried to soothe us but nothing could help in this situation. I grabbed Lily's hand once more, and squeezed it. It was our time to leave, Lily's parents had gotten here from Vancouver and they had to say goodbye as well. My dad took charge of our wheelchairs again, and slowly brought us out of the room. We were greeted with a hug by Mr. and Mrs. Truscott as soon as we went through the door. There faces were covered with tear stains, and red from crying. My dad hugged both and whispered some reassuring words, and then Oliver and I were wheeled to the elevators.

Everyone was quiet as we went up to our floor, there were a few small sobs but we were all too spaced out to realize what was happening. It wasn't until Oliver and I were set back into our beds that Oliver turned to me and reached for my hand. I turned to him and reached out for his, our eyes connected for a few seconds before we both went to wipe away our tears. I took a deep breath in, and turned to look at Oliver again.

"I thought we were going to celebrate her life," I whispered, tears flowing down my face again.

Oliver smiled, "How are we going to do that?" He asked his voice raspy. He continued to avoid eye contact.

"What if we told stories to each other," I suggested. "Memories about Lily, good times we've had together."

Oliver turned over in his bed and lay on his side so that he was facing me once again. He sighed and nodded his head, "My parents got divorced in the third grade, and when Lily found out she came over every day that week." Oliver started, "The first day she came Lily brought a cupcake, strawberry with vanilla icing, which I'd only told her about once since we'd became friends. We sat at my kitchen table and split the cupcake in half so that we could share. Lily made me a strawberry cupcake every special day since then."

I smiled, "Remember when we went to six flags a couple of summers ago? You, Lily and I, and we left my dad to hold onto everything we'd won at the games just so we could go on the log flume. We ran to the ride and went on it three times before we were worn out. Our clothes were soaked through, and our sneakers made squeaking sounds when we walked. Lily suggested we run around in circles until we were dry, and we got so dizzy that we could hardly stand up. You, Lily and I sat on the ground giggling until my dad made us get up. That was the most fun I've ever had in my entire life."

Oliver nodded, "Miley?" He asked, "Do you think Lily could hear us when we talked to her?"

I nodded, "Yeah Oliver, I do."

**FIN**

**hopefully a sequel will be coming soon... depends, do you want one???? **


	73. POSSIBLE SEQUEL authors note

Hey Everybody!

I just wanted to let all the readers of _Unlisted Help_ know that I will be starting a sequel due to tons of requests. I've started, yes, but haven't a clue what to do with the remaining characters that would make the story as interesting and intense as the first. Other than grief… etc… I NEED SUGGESTIONS…and who better to ask than the readers?

Please use comments to give your suggestions – the more everyone gives the less obvious plot I'll use, so I figure that would be best for you!

Thanks a ton, Roosie


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